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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/buildingnationevcoff 


INArGURAL    PROCESSION. 


BUILDING   THE   NATION 


EVENTS  IN  THE 

HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

FRO 31  THE  REVOLUTION  TO   THE  BEGINNING    OF 
THE  WAR  BETWEEN  THE  STATES 


BY 

CHARLES  CARLETON  COEFIN 

AUTHOR    OF 
'THE  BOYS  OF  '76"  "THE  STORY  OF  LIBERTY"   "OLD  TIMES  IN  THE  COLONIES"  ETC. 


3Uustratc£r 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  FRANKLIN  SQUARE 

188  3 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

Stories  from  American  History,  for  Young  Readers. 

BY 

CHARLES  CARLETON  COFFIN. 

THE    STORY    OF    LIBERTY.      Illustrated.      8vo,  Cloth,"  $3.00. 

OLD   TIMES   IN   THE    COLONIES.      Illustrated.      Svo,  Cloth,  $3.00. 

THE  BOYS  OF  "76.  A  History  of  the  Battles  of  the  Revolution.  Illustrated. 
Svo,  Cloth,  $3.00. 

BUILDING  THE  NATION.  Events  in  the  History  of  the  United  States,  from 
the  Revolution  to  the  Beginning  of  the  War  between  the  States.  Illus- 
trated.    8vo,  Cloth,  $3.00. 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

S3F°  Harper  &  Brothers  will  send  any  of  the  above  works  by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  any  part 
of  the  United  States,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


Copyright,  1882,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 


PREFACE. 


To  the  Boys  and  Girls  of  the  United  States : 

In  reading  this  volume,  you  will  notice  that  the  men  who  began  to 
Build  the  Nation  had  no  model  by  which  to  fashion  it.  There  never  had 
been  a  government  of  the  people — never  a  written  Constitution.  There 
were  no  finger-posts  in  history  to  point  them  to  the  right  way ;  but  they 
were  actuated  by  a  deep  and  abiding  love  for  liberty,  justice,  and  equal 
rights,  and  did  what  seemed  to  them  best  for  the  general  good. 

The  Constitution  is  an  embodiment  of  the  political  wisdom  of  the 
ages;  yet,  as  you  will  notice,  the  people  were  reluctant  to  adopt  it,  fear- 
ing that  in  its  workings  —  in  consenting  to  have  Congress  make  general 
laws  for  the  country — there  would  be  a  loss  of  sovereignty  on  the  part 
of  the  States. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  men  who  began  the  building  were  not  far 
enough  advanced  from  the  ideas  of  the  feudal  age  to  recognize  all  men, 
irrespective  of  race  and  color,  as  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  the  Consti- 
tution. They  excluded  those  who  had  African  blood  in  their  veins.  It 
was  agreed  that  slaves  should  not  be  classed  as  citizens  entitled  to  vote, 
but  that  they  should,  at  the  same  time,  be  counted  as  inhabitants,  which, 
with  the  idea  that  the  sovereignty  of  a  single  State  is  greater  than  that 
of  the  nation,  has  had  a  great  deal  to  do  in  giving  direction  to  the  course 
of  our  country's  history. 

At  the  time  the  Constitution  was  adopted  slavery'  was  dying  out  in 
the  Northern  States,  and  it  was  supposed  that  it  would  soon  come  to  an 
end  in  all  the  States ;  but  the  inventions  of  James  TIargreaves  and  Rich- 
ard Arkwright  in  spinning ;  the  invention  of  the  steam-engine  by  James 
Watt;  the  beginning  of  manufacturing  in  Great  Britain;  the  demand  for 
cotton;  the  invention  of  the  cotton-gin  by  Eli  Whitney,  made  the  cultiva- 
tion of  cotton  very  profitable.  In  consequence  more  slaves  were  wanted 
to  cultivate  the  fields  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Missis- 
sippi ;  and,  instead  of  dying  out,  slavery  became  a  permanent  institution 
peculiar  to  the  Southern  States,  affecting  society  in  all  its  relations. 

Slavery  was  a  degradation  of  labor.  So  it  came  about  that  there  were 
classes — planters  who  owned  slaves,  who  were  rich  and  influential ;  and 


6  PKEFACE. 

people  who  had  little  money,  who  owned  no  slaves — who  felt  that  it  would 
be  a  losing  of  their  manhood  to  work  for  a  living. 

The  planters  could  educate  their  children,  but  there  were  no  common- 
schools  where  the  children  of  the  poor  white  people  could  obtain  an  edu- 
cation. Ignorance  is  weakness;  knowledge,  power.  The  planters  became 
the  governing  class — making  and  executing  the  laws.  In  this  way  slavery 
became  a  great  political  power — from  1S20  to  1860 — making  itself  felt 
in  all  the  affairs  of  state. 

There  have  been  great  changes  in  manners,  customs,  ways  of  living, 
travelling,  and  the  transmission  of  information,  brought  about  by  discovery 
and  invention  —  by  setting  rivers  to  turning  wheels,  by  burning  coal  in 
steam-engines,  relieving  men  from  toil  and  hardship,  and  adding  to  their 
comfort  and  happiness. 

There  has  been  the  coming  in  of  new  ideas  in  morals.  Duelling,  which 
once  was  regarded  as  honorable,  has  become  a  crime.  Not  now,  as  in 
other  days,  can  men  drink  intoxicating  drinks  till  they  fall  helpless  to  the 
floor,  and  yet  occupy  exalted  positions  in  society. 

With  the  diffusion  of  intelligence — the  rising  to  a  higher  civilization — 
there  has  been,  at  the  same  time,  a  quickening  of  religious  life — an  increas- 
ing sense  of  obligation  to  help  the  poor,  the  unfortunate,  and  the  degraded, 
by  establishing  schools,  churches,  hospitals,  asylums,  sending  out  mission- 
aries to  the  destitute  and  degraded  of  every  land,  with  the  sole  purpose  of 
giving  them  the  blessings  of  a  Christian  civilization. 

Soon  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  the  United  States  began 
to  teach  other  nations  by  example — lighting  the  torch  of  liberty  in  France, 
South  America,  and  Mexico — becoming  the  leader  of  all  the  nations,  and 
introducing  a  new  order  of  things  in  government.  From  small  beginnings 
the  nation  has  become  great  and  strong;  its  flag  the  emblem  of  the  world's 
best  hope. 

The  question,  I  doubt  not,  will  come  to  you,  as  to  the  future  of  the 
nation — what  it  is  to  be;  the  measure  of  influence  it  is  destined  to  exert 
upon  other  nations;  the  part  it  is  to  play  in  the  great  drama  of  Time.  If. 
as  you  study  these  pages,  there  shall  come  a  deepening  of  love  for  our 
country,  its  prosperity  and  welfare — for  liberty — for  the  Constitution  and 
the  Union  ;  if  there  shall  come  a  more  ardent  aspiration  that  in  the  future, 
as  in  the  past,  our  country  may  still  be  teacher  and  leader  of  the  nations 
toward  a  higher  and  nobler  civilization — toward  justice,  right,  and  liberty 
— the  object  I  have  had  in  view,  in  preparing  this  volume,  will  be  ac- 
complished. 

Chaeles  Caeletox  Coffin. 
Boston,  1882. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 

Beginning 13 

CHAPTER  II. 

First  Years  op  the  Constitution..     27 

CHAPTER  III. 

Teaching  by  Example 42 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Influence    op    France    upon    the 
United  States 58 

CHAPTER  V. 
Forces  op  Civilization 63 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Social  Life  in  New  England 78 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Social  Life  in  Other  States 93 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Administration  op  John  Adams.  ...  112 

CHAPTER   IX. 

War  with  Algiers 119 


CHAPTER  X.  PAGE 

Opening  Years  op  the  Century  ...  131 

CHAPTER  XL 

how  there  came  to  be  war  with 
England 142 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Victories  on  the  Sea 159 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Second  Year  op  the  War 171 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Second   and   Third   Year    of    the 
War 187 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Close  of  the  War  with  England.  .  207 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
From  1817  to  1832 232 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Religious  and  Moral  Forces 251 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Progress  of  Temperance 271 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XIX.  PAGE 

Prejudice  against  Color 282 

CHAPTER  XX. 
Texas 291 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
War  with  the  Seminole  Indians  . .  301 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Beginning  op  a  Great  Movement.  .  305 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
War  with  Mexico 314 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
War  with  Mexico — Continued 332 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

California 353 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Oregon 363 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Compromise  op  1850 387 


CHAPTER  XXVIII.  PAGE 

Enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law 399 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Kansas 407 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

The  Underground  Railroad 418 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Progress  of  Invention 425 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

The  Mormons 440 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Literature  and  Science 450 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

John  Brown 460 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

The    Election    of    Abraham    Lin- 
coln  468 


INDEX ■ , 477 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Inaugural  Procession Frontispiece 

David  Hartley 14 

Benjamin  Franklin 15 

John  Jay 15 

The  State-house  at  Annapolis 16 

Washington  Resigning  his  Commission 17 

George  Washington.     (By  Trumbull) 18 

Map  of  the  North-west  Territory 23 

Where  Washington  was  Inaugurated 26 

Campus  Martins 27 

Fort  Washington,  on  the  Site  of  Cincinnati  28 

Departure  of  Immigrants 29 

Fort  Harmar 80 

Hall's  Crossing-place 80 

Harmar's  Defeat 31 

Place  of  Harmar's  Defeat 31 

Anthony  Wayne 32 

Plan  of  Battle 33 

Turkey-foot  Rock 34 

General  Wayne's  Home 35 

Drawing-room,  Wayne  Homestead 36 

Washington  and  his  Servant 37 

Washington  Attending  a  Ball 38 

Lady  Washington's  Reception-day.  (Repro- 
duced, by  permission,  from  the  engraving 
of  Mr.  Huntington's  celebrated  painting)  39 

Oliver  Ellsworth 41 

Rousseau 44 

Voltaire 45 

Louis  XVI 46 

The  Three  Orders 47 

Camille  Desmoulins 48 

Sacking  the  Arsenal 49 

Taking  of  the  Bastile.     (From  an  Old  Print)  50 
Club-house  of  the  Jacobins.    (From  an  Old 

Print) 51 

Women  Marching  to  Versailles.     (From  an 

Old  Print) 53 

Attack    on   the   Tuileries.      (From    an   Old 

Print) 54 

Rouget  de  l'Isle 55 


PAfiE 

First  Singing  of  the  "  Marseillaise  " 56 

Thomas  Paine 58 

State  Street,  Boston,  1801 60 

Genet 61 

The  Contrast 62 

From  the  New  England  Primer 64 

The  School  Examination 65 

Noah  Webster 67 

The  Boy  who  Stole  Apples 68 

Spinning  :    Large  Wheel 69 

Spinning :    Small  Wheel 70 

Hargreaves's  Spinning-jenny 71 

Arkwright's  Spinning-frame 71 

Fitch' s  Steamboat 73 

Eli  Whitney 74 

The  Sea  Islands 75 

Cotton-gin 76 

Hoeing  Rice 76 

Wide-awake  Deacon. 79 

Pitching  the  Tune 80 

The  Long  Sermon 81 

"  I'll  give  it  to  you  !" 83 

A  New  England  Kitchen '84 

Sugar-trees 85 

Boiling  Sap 86 

Caricature  of  the  Infantry 87 

Buying  Turkeys 88 

Weaving 89 

Speaking  in  Town-meeting 90 

The  Fourth  of  July 91 

Room  in  a  New  York  Dutch  Home 93 

After  Dinner 95 

Dutch  Courting 96 

Singing  a  Hymn  to  St.  Nicholas 98 

A  Garden-part}' 99 

An  Old-time  Cup  of  Coffee 100 

Old-time  School  in  Pennsylvania 101 

In  the  Stocks 102 

The  Family  Coach 103 

A  Virginia  Kitchen 104 

Christmas  in  Virginia 105 


1U 


ILLUSTKATIONS. 


PAGE 

Ready  for  the  Hunt 107 

A  Virginia  Reel 108 

A  Kentucky  Weddi ng 109 

John  Adams ". 112 

C.  C.  Pinckney 113 

Elbridge  Gerry 113 

Scene  in  the  Theatre  in  Philadelphia,  1794  114 

Constellation  and  La  Vengeance 116 

Medal  to  Commander  Truxtun 117 

Washington's  Tomb  at  Mount  Vernon —   118 

Thomas  Jefferson 119 

Robert  R.  Livingston 120 

Algiers  in  1800 120 

William  Baiubridge 121 

Moors  Grinding  Swords 122 

Interior  of  a  Moorish  Cafe 123 

Edward  Preble 125 

Stephen  Decatur 12(3 

Scene  in  Tangiers 128 

The  Desert 129 

Nathaniel  Massie 131 

Old  State-house,  Chillicothe 132 

Massie's  Monument 133 

Aaron  Burr 134 

Duel  between  Hamilton  and  Burr 135 

Where  Hamilton  Fell 136 

Blennerhasset's  House 137 

Burr's  Troops  Going  Down  the  Ohio 138 

Robert  Fulton 139 

Robert  Fulton's  Birthplace 140 

The  Clermont 141 

James  Madison 143 

Teeumtha 145 

Fort  Harrison 145 

Tippecanoe  Battle-ground 146 

Josiah  Quincy 147 

William  Hull 148 

States   and  Territories  in  the   South   and 

West,  1812  ...'. 149 

Detroit  River  and  Vicinity 150 

Fort  Dearborn— 1812. 151 

Maguaga  Battle-ground 152 

Duncan  M'Arthur 153 

Lewis  Cass 154 

Monroe,  from  the  Battle-ground 154 

Map  of  the  Niagara  Frontier 155 

Solomon  Van  Rensselaer 157 

John  Brant 157 

Isaac  Hull 159 

Escape  of  the  Constitution 161 

James  Dacres 163 

Constitution  and  Guerriere 165 

Jacob  Jones 167 

A  Wasp  on  a  Frolic 168 

Bainbridge's  Medal 169 

Lasalle'  s  House 171 


PAGE 

Winchester's  Head-quarters 172 

Movements  at  Frenchtown 173 

York  (now  Toronto) 174 

Zebulon  Pike 174 

William  Henry  Harrison 175 

Fort  Meigs 175 

Siege  of  Fort  Meigs 176 

Sackett's  Harbor,  1814 177 

Operations  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  May,  1813. .  178 

Jacob  Brown 178 

View  at  Fremont 180 

Major  Croghan 181 

Attack  on  Fort  Stephenson 182 

Stonington  Flag 183 

Jeremiah  Holmes 183 

Denison's  Monument 1S4 

A  Musical  Stratagem 185 

Perry's  Lookout 187 

Commodore  Perry 18S 

Perry's  Birthplace,  South  Kingston,  R.  I 188 

Put-in  Bay.     (Battle  in  the  Distance) 189 

First  Position 190 

Stephen  Champlin 190 

Perry  Changing  Ship 191 

Position  at  the  Close  of  the  Battle 192 

Fac-simile  of  Perry's  Despatch 192 

John  Bull  and  Queen  Charlotte 193 

Thames  Battle-ground 194 

Plan  of  the  Battle  of  the  Thames 195 

Buffalo,  1813 196 

Battle  of  Niagara  Falls 197 

John  M'Neil  19S 

View  at  Lundy's  Lane,  1860 198 

James  Miller 199 

Battle  of  Lundy's  Lane 201 

Thomas  Macdonongh 203 

View  from  Cumberland  Head 204 

Alexander  Macomb 204 

Naval  Battle  of  Lake  Champlain 205 

Battle  of  Plattsburg.     (From  an  Old  Print)  206 

James  Robertson 208 

John  Coffee 209 

The  Battle  of  the  Horseshoe 210 

Joshua  Barney 211 

William  H.  Winder 211 

Bridge  at  Bladensburg 212 

March  of  the  British  Army  from  Benedict 

to  Bladensburg 213 

Plan  of  the  Battle-ground  at  Bladensburg. .  213 

The  Capitol  after  the  Fire 215 

President's  House  after  the  Fire 215 

Mrs.  Madison 216 

Admiral  Sir  Peter  Parker 217 

Samuel  Smith 217 

General  Strieker 218 

Battle-ground  at  North  Point 218 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


11 


PAGE 

Remains  of  Battery 219 

Fac-simile   of  the  Original  Manuscript  of 
the  First  Stanza  of  "The  Star-spangled 

Banner 221 

Samuel  Chester  Reid 223 

Andrew  Jackson 225 

Positions  of  the  American  and  British  Ar- 
mies near  New  Orleans,  January  8, 1815. .  226 

Jackson's  Head-quarters 227 

Chalmette's  Plantation 227 

Battle  of  New  Orleans.   (From  an  Old  Print)  228 

Behind  the  Breastworks 229 

Remains  of  Rodriguez's  Canal,  New  Orleans  231 

James  Monroe 232 

Pensioners 233 

House  where  the  First  American  Flag  was 

Made 234 

The  Stage 237 

Old-time  Chaise 238 

De  Witt  Clinton 239 

Locks  at  Lockport 241 

Entrance  to  the  Erie  Canal  at  Troy 242 

John  Randolph 243 

Henry  Clay 244 

Ashland 244 

Lafayette 245 

Bunker  Hill  Monument 246 

John  Quiucy  Adams 246 

John  C.  Calhoun 248 

Daniel  Webster 248 

Webster's  Place,  Marshtield 249 

Address  to  "  Old  Hickory  " 250 

First  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York 253 

Barbara  Heck 255 

First  Methodist  Church  in  New  York.  (From 

an  Old  Print) 256 

Strawbridge  Meeting-house.     (From  an  Old 

Print) 256 

Francis  Asbury 257 

Trinity  Church,  New  York,  1774 258 

William  Ellery  Chanuing 259 

Robert  Raikes 260 

Joanna  Prince's  School 261 

Williamstown 262 

Old-time  Singing-school 263 

College  and  Library,  Williamstown 265 

Old-time  Choir 267 

The  Morning  Dram 272 

Waiting  for  a  Drink 273 

Idling  their  Time  Away 274 

Making  the  Bargain.    (Copied  from  a  Cut  in 

the  Pamphlet) 276 

The  Demons  in  the  Distillery.   (Copied  from 

a  Cut  in  the  Pamphlet) 277 

Bursting  Out  of  the  Flames.     (Copied  from 
a  Cut  in  the  Pamphlet) 278 


Page 
Bringing  Back  the  Rum.     (Copied  from  a 

Cut  in  the  Pamphlet) ; . . .   279 

John  Pierpout 281 

The  Rising  Power 284 

Poor  White  People  of  the  South 285 

William  Lloyd  Garrison 285 

Garrison's  Birthplace , 286 

Texas  as  Claimed  by  the  United  States. ....  293 

Texan  Rangers 295 

Santa  Anna 296 

The  Alamo 297 

Samuel  Houston 298 

Battle  of  San  Jacinto 299 

Scene  of  the  Seminole  War 301 

Martin  Van  Buren .' 302 

John  Tyler 303 

Lucretia  Mott 306 

Fit  only  to  be  a  Slave 307 

Death  of  Lovejoy.     (From  a  Print  of  the 

Times) 310 

Wendell  Phillips 811 

Edmund  Quiucy 312 

Zachary  Taylor 814 

Charge  of  Captain  May's  Cavalry.    (From  a 

Print  of  the  Time) 315 

Monterey 317 

Fight  in  the  Streets  of  Monterey 318 

Battle  of  Monterey 319 

Route  of  the  Mexican  Armies  between  Vera 

Cruz  and  the  Rio  Grande 322 

Battle  of  Buena  Vista 323 

John  E.  Wool 327 

Winfield  Scott 332 

Vera  Cruz 333 

Bombardment  of  Vera  Cruz 334 

Route  to  Mexico '.  885 

Attack  on  Cerro  Gordo 336 

The    American    Army  Approaching    Mex- 
ico    338 

Map  of  the  Lower  Valley  of  Mexico 339 

The  Aqueduct 341 

Battle  of  Cherubuseo.    (From  a  Print  issued 

in  1848) 343 

Cathedral  of  Mexico 346 

Palace  of  Mexico 347 

Battle  of  Molino  del  Rey.    (From  a  Print 

of  the  Time) 348 

Chapultcpec 349 

The  Army  in  Mexico 350 

Santa  Fe 350 

Acquisition    of  Territory    by    the    United 
States,  1776-1868.     (From   the   Map   of 

S.  W.  Stocking) 351 

Map  of  California 354 

John  A.  Sutter 356 

John  Charles  Fremont 357 


12 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Where  the  Gold  was  Found 358 

Finding  Gold 360 

Miners'  Cabins 361 

Map  of  Puget  Sound ' 36-1 

Indians  Spearing  Salmon 366 

Mount  Rainer 367 

Mount  Baker 368 

Astoria 369 

The  Camp  at  Night 375 

Mystery  of  the  Steelyard 377 

Care  for  a  Sick  Indian 378 

Map  of  Whitman's  Route 379 

Scene  in  Santa  Fe 382 

The  Mountains 384 

Jerked  Meat 385 

Must  have  their  Baskets  Full 388 

The  Comfortless  Cabin 389 

Poor  but  Proud 390 

Southern  Street  Scene 391 

Village  Tavern  and  Stage-coach 392 

A  Plantation  Team 393 

Millard  Fillmore 393 

Henry  Ward  Beecher. . '. 396 

Theodore  Parker 397 

Franklin  Pierce 401 

Death  Rather  than  Slavery 403 

Stephen  A.  Douglas 408 

Gerrit  Smith 409 

Home  of  Whittier 410 

Charles  Sumner 413 

James  Buchanan 414 

William  H.  Seward 416 


PAGE 

Their  Only  Solace ■..  419 

Plantation  Scene — a  Negro  Hut 420 

Talking  about  Freedom . , 423 

The  Toll-gate 426 

Old  Way-side  Tavern 428 

George  Stephenson 430 

The  "Rocket" 431 

S.  F.  B.  Morse 432 

Professor   Morse   Exhibiting    his    Electric 

Telegraph    433 

Engine  of  1790— General  Washington  as  a 

Fireman 434 

Moses  G.  Farmer 435 

Fire  Engine,  1854 436 

Benjamin  Franklin's  Press 437 

"  Columbian  "  Press 437 

Richard  M.  Hoe 438 

The  Perfecting  Press 439 

The  Prophecy 441 

Bringing  Home  Another  Wife 447 

William  Cullen  Bryant 453 

Sunnyside  :  Irving's  Home 454 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson 456 

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow 456 

John  Greenleaf  Whittier 457 

James  Russell  Lowell 458 

Louis  Agassiz 459 

Harper's  Ferry , 462 

"  He  Stoops  and  Kisses  the  Child  " 460 

Abraham  Lincoln 471 

Jefferson  Davis 472 

Fort  Sumter 473 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BEGINNING. 

IN  the  city  of  Paris,  September  3,  1783,  David  Hartley  for  the  King 
of  England,  Benjamin  Franklin,  John  Adams,  and  John  Jay  for  the 
United  States,  signed  their  names  to  a  treaty  of  peace  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  making  the  thirteen  States  forever  inde- 
pendent. 

The  Boys  of  '76  had  fought  their  last  battle.  The  time  had  come 
when  the  red-coated  soldiers  of  the  King  wTere  to  leave  the  country  which, 
for  seven  years,  they  had  tried  to  subdue.  All  through  the  war,  after  the 
battle  of  Long  Island,  in  1776,  the  British  had  held  New  York — so  long 
that  the  officers  felt  themselves  quite  at  home ;  but  the  time  had  come  for 
their  departure.  On  November  25,  1783,  after  nailing  the  King's  flag  to 
the  top  of  a  tall  staff,  that  it  might  "wave  over  the  city  after  they  were 
gone,  they  went  on  board  the  ships  in  the  harbor  and  sailed  away,  past 
Sandy  Hook,  out  upon  the  ocean,  steering  for  Halifax.  While  the  last  of 
them  wrere  stepping  into  their  boats,  the  Americans,  with  drums  beating, 
colors  flying,  the  bright  sun  glinting  from  their  arms,  with  General  Wash- 
ington in  command — Governor  Clinton  and  General  Knox  by  his  side, 
their  staffs  following  them — the  cavalry,  light-infantry,  artillery,  the  Legis- 
lature of  New  York,  and  the  chief  citizens,  marched  proudly  into  the  city. 

The  British  flag  was  still  flying;  but  John  Van  Arsdale,  although  only 
sixteen  years  old,  spat  on  his  hands,  clasped  his  arms  around  the  flag-staff, 
drew  up  his  feet,  pressed  them  against  it,  and  almost  in  a  twinkling  was 
up  to  the  top,  tearing  away  the  British  flag,  and  hoisting  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  in  its  place,  the  great  crowd  down  below  tossing  their  three-cor- 
nered cocked-hats  into  the  air  a-cheering,  and  cannon  thundering  a  salute. 

A  few  days  later  and  the  soldiers  were  on  their  way  home.     They  had 


14 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  I. 


no  money.  Washington  had  none  to  give  them,  but  the  people  every- 
where were  glad  to  give  them  supper  and  breakfast  and  dinner,  and  good 
beds  at  night. 

The  clay  came  (December  4)  when  Washington  was  to  bid  good-bye  to 
the  officers  who  had  been  with  him  through  the  long  struggle.  They  met 
for  the  last  time.  They  had  fought  side  by  side,  and  had  conquered.  It 
is  hard  to  part  forever  from  those  whom  we  respect,  honor,  and  love. 


Iliill   I    WMM 


DAVID    HARTLEY. 


Washington  filled  a  glass  with  wine  and  said :  "  With  a  heart  full  of 
love  and  gratitude  I  now  take  leave  of  you,  most  devoutly  wishing  that 
your  latter  days  may  be  as  prosperous  and  happy  as  your  former  ones 
have  been  glorious  and  honorable." 

They  took  his  hand.  There  were  tears  upon  his  cheek,  and  the  officers 
felt  a  choking  in  their  throats.  Not  a  word  was  spoken.  They  passed 
out-of-doors  down  to  the  ferry  at  Whitehall,  between  two  rows  of  soldiers, 
who  presented  arms  for  the  last  time  to  the  great  commander.    Washington 


1783.] 


BEGINNING. 


15 


;  ^;- 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


stepped  into  a  boat,  took  off  his  hat  and  waved  a  farewell,  and  the  oars 

of  the  rowers  swept  him  away  to  the  New  Jersey  side. 

At  noon  on  the  20th  of  December  he 
stood  in  the  old  hail  of  the  State-house  at 
Annapolis,  in  the  presence  of  the  Congress 
which  had  called  him  from  his  quiet  home 
eight  years  before  to  take  command  of  the 
armies  of  the  United  States.  Now  he  was 
to  resign  it. 

"  I  commend,"  he  said,  "  the  interests  of 
our  country  to  the  protection  of  Almighty 
God,  and  those  who  have  the  superintend- 
ence of  them  to  his  hoi}7  keeping.  Having 
finished  the  work  assigned  me,  and  bidding 
an  affectionate  farewell  to  this  august  body 
under  whose  order  I  have  so  long  acted,  I 

here  offer  my  commission  and  take  leave  of  all  employments  of  public  life." 
He  was  a  citizen  once  more.     So  he  laid  down  power,  thereby  adding 

greatness  to  his  fame. 

No  more  the  beating  of  drums 

or  roar  of  cannon ;  no  more  weary 

marches  or  the  clash  of  arms. 

The  fighting  was  over;  but  the 

people    must    still    be    patriots. 

They  had  a  great  work  before 

them — the  formation  of  a  gov- 
ernment, the  building  of  a  nation. 
They  had  won  the  respect  of 

the  world  as  soldiers ;  they  must 

win  it   also    as    citizens.      They 

were    no    longer    subjects,  but 

equals  in  their  political  freedom. 

The  King  and  Parliament  had 

made  laws  for  them  before  the}7 

began  the  struggle  at  Lexington ; 

now   they  must  make   laws   for 

themselves.   No  more  were  kings 

to  rule,  but  they  themselves,  and 

the  minority  must  obey  the  majority.     They  had  won  independence,  and 

the  world  was  wondering  what  they  would  do  with  it. 


JOHN    JAY. 


16 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  I. 


How  poor  they  were  !  They  had  spent  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
million  dollars.  They  had  very  little  money.  All  trade  was  by  barter  or 
exchange.  The  farmer  who  had  wheat,  butter,  or  cheese  to  sell  took  his 
pay  at  the  country  store  in  needles,  pins,  cloth,  sugar,  or  molasses.     The 


THE    STATE-HOUSE    AT   ANNAPOLIS. 


shoemaker  who  came  to  make  shoes  for  the  farmer's  family,  bringing  his 
bench,  lapstone,  awls,  and  waxed  thread,  took  his  pay  in  the  hide  of  the 
ox  or  the  skin  of  the  calf  which  the  farmer  had  killed ;  which  he,  in  turn, 
traded  off  to  the  tanner  for  leather.  The  paper  dollars,  or  promises  to  pay, 
which  Congress  and  the  several  Colonies  had  issued,  were  worthless,  be- 
cause people  had  no  confidence  that  Congress  or  the  States  ever  would  be 
able  to  give  silver  dollars  in  exchange  for  them. 

It  is  not  in  human  nature  to  be  contented  when  things  go  hard  with 
us  —  when  we  are  poor,  in  debt,  creditors  crowding,  and  we  have  not 
wherewith  to  pa}r. 

One  of  the  men  who  talked  against  the  government,  and  who  advised 
the  people  not  to  pay  their  taxes,  was  Samuel  Ely,  who  once  had  started 
to  be  a  minister,  and  had  preached  in  Connecticut;  but  the  people  discov- 
ered that  he  was  a  hypocrite.  He  stirred  up  the  citizens  of  Northampton, 
Massachusetts,  whereupon  the  sheriff  put  him  in  jail.  A  mob  assembled 
to  tear  down  the  building,  and  General  Porter  came  with  troops  to  protect 


1783.] 


BEGINNING. 


17 


it.  "Tear  it  down  !"  they  shouted.  General  Porter  yielded  to  their  de- 
mands and  released  Mr.  Ely.  Things  went  on  from  bad  to  worse.  There 
was  no  silver  money  to  be  had.  The  British  merchants  had  sent  over 
ship-loads  of  goods  of  all  kinds,  which  the  people  had  purchased — getting 
the  merchants  to  trust  them.  The  merchants  called  for  their  pay;  the 
sheriff  took  possession  of  the  debtors'  property,  selling  their  horses,  cows, 
and  farms.  Daniel  Shays,  who  had  been  a  captain  in  the  army,  under- 
took to  organize  a  rebellion  in  Massachusetts,  which  extended  to  New 
Hampshire.  Crowds  of  rioters  assembled  at  Worcester,  Springfield,  and 
other  towns,  with  guns,  old  swords,  and  stout  sticks.  General  Lincoln, 
who  had  fought  through  the  Revolution,  came  upon  them  with  the  militia. 
The  rioters  suddenly  took  to  their  heels,  and  so  was  ended  the  rebellion. 

The  States  during  the  Revolution  had  adopted  written  constitutions,  on 
which  all  laws  were  based. 

Congress  was  very  weak.  It  had  little  authority,  could  not  enforce 
laws,  for  the  States  had  only  united  to  defend  themselves  against  the  King. 


WASHINGTON    RESIGNING    HIS    COMMISSION 


They  were  held  together  by  an  agreement,  or  articles  of  confederation. 
The  clear-headed  men  saw  that,  to  be  a  nation,  they  must  have  a  written 
constitution. 

In  17S7  fifty  delegates  from  the  thirteen  States  met  in  convention  in 
Philadelphia.  General  Washington  was  elected  President.  There  were 
perplexing  questions.     Some  of  the  States  were  large,  others  small :  ought 

9 


18 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  I. 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.       [BY    TRUMBULL.] 


the  small  ones  to  have  equal  voice  with  the  large  ones  in  government? 
They  decided  that  there  should  be  a  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
— two  Senators  from  each  State,  no  matter  what  its  size  or  how  many  in- 
habitants it  contained;  but  the  Representatives  were  to  be  elected  accord- 
ing to  population. 


1787.]  BEGINNING.  19 

That  vessel  which  sailed  up  James  River  in  1620  with  negroes  on 
board  which  had  been  stolen  in  Africa,  and  were  sold  to  the  planters  at 
Jamestown,  now  sailed  into  the  Convention.  The  negroes  were  several 
hundred  thousand. 

The  merchants  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  Boston,  before  the  Rev- 
olution, made  a  great  deal  of  money  by  sending  their  ships  to  the  West 
Indies  for  molasses,  which  they  transported  to  Boston  and  Newport,  dis- 
tilled into  rum,  and  then  sent  the  ships  with  the  rum  to  Africa,  where 
they  purchased  negro  slaves,  brought  them  to  the  West  Indies,  Charleston, 
Savannah,  or  Norfolk,  sold  them  to  the  planters,  then  loaded  their  vessels 
with  molasses  again,  to  make  more  rum  to  send  to  Africa  for  another 
cargo  of  slaves.  Few  people  saw  any  wrong  in  it.  Negroes  were  not 
thought  of  as  being  men,  although  colored  men  had  fought  under  Wash- 
ington to  enable  the  people  to  gain  their  freedom.  There  were  not  many 
slaves  in  the  Northern  States.  The  people  of  those  States  had  small 
farms,  and  could  not  afford  to  own  slaves.  There  was  not  one  in  Mas- 
sachusetts. In  New  Hampshire  there  were  only  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight;  in  Rhode  Island  nine  hundred  and  fifty-two;  Connecticut  had  two 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty ;  New  York  twenty-one  thousand  ;  New 
Jersey  eleven  thousand;  Pennsylvania  thirty -seven  hundred;  Delaware 
nine  thousand. 

The  Southern  States  had  large  numbers — Maryland  one  hundred  and 
three  thousand ;  Virginia  two  hundred  and  ninety-three  thousand  ;  South 
Carolina  one  hundred  and  seven  thousand  ;  Georgia  twenty-nine  thousand. 
In  the  Southern  States  the  plantations  were  large,  the  climate  mild,  and 
slaves  could  be  made  profitable. 

Thomas  Jefferson  and  Benjamin  Franklin  looked  hopefully  forward  to 
a  time  when  slavery  would  die  out  in  the  Southern  States,  as  it  was  dying 
in  the  Northern,  but  the  thistle-seed  was  spreading  instead. 

How  should  the  negroes  be  reckoned  under  the  Constitution?  They 
were  not  voters,  but  they  were  inhabitants,  and  representatives  were  to 
be  apportioned  according  to  population. 

"Slaves  are  not  citizens;  they  cannot  vote;  they  ought  not  to  be  reck- 
oned," said  the  delegates  from  the  Northern  States. 

"They  are  inhabitants,  and  must  be  counted  in,"  replied  the  members 
of  the  Southern  States. 

"North  Carolina  never  will  accept  the  Constitution  unless  they  are 
reckoned  at  least  as  three-fifths,"  said  Mr.  Davis,  from  that  State. 

"  Slavery  is  a  curse,"  responded  Gouverneur  Morris,  of  New  York. 
"On  what  principle   are  you  to   reckon  them?     Are  they  men?     Then 


20  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  I. 

they  ought  to  be  citizens  and  become  voters.  Are  they  property  ?  Why, 
then,  ought  not  all  property — cattle,  horses,  and  hogs — to  be  reckoned  at 
three-fifths  ?" 

If  a  slave  should  run  away  from  his  master  to  another  State,  how 
should  lie  be  carried  back  ? 

"lie  should  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  owner,"  said  the  Southern 
States.  They  carried  their  points,  and  it  was  written  down  that  the  States 
might  obtain  all  the  slaves  they  wanted  from  Africa  for  twenty  years  ; 
that  in  the  apportionment -for  representation  a  slave  should  be  reckoned  as 
three-fifths  of  a  white  man ;  that  if  a  slave  escaped  into  another  State  he 
should  be  delivered  up  by  that  State ;  that  the  slave-trade  between  the 
United  States  and  Africa  should  cease  in  180S. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  were  far  in  advance  of  the  people  of 
any  other  land  in  their  recognition  of  the  rights  of  men,  but  the  idea  had 
not  dawned  upon  them  that  negroes  had  any  civil  rights,  or  that  slavery 
was  wrong.  The  people  of  the  Northern  States,  except  here  and  there  an 
individual,  thought  of  slavery  only  as  not  being  profitable.  The  sentence 
which  Thomas  Jefferson  put  into  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  all 
men  are  created  free  and  equal  and  endowed  with  inalienable  rights,  had 
reference  to  white  men  ;  he  was  not  thinking  of  negroes. 

All  through  the  summer  the  delegates  discussed  the  momentous  ques- 
tions that  came  before  them,  not  quite  knowing  what  they  wanted. 

"  The  delegates,"  wrote  Jeremy  Belknap,  "  did  not  know  their  own 
minds;  they  were  like  a  man  buying  a  suit  of  smallclothes  which  did  not 
fit  him.  They  were  too  small,  and  must  be  let  out;  too  big,  and  must  be 
taken  in  ;  afraid  that  there  would  be  a  hole,  and  a  patch  must  be  put  on ; 
that  the  buttons  were  not  strong  enough,  and  others  must  be  substituted." 

The  delegates  allowed  none  but  themselves  to  be  present  at  the  delib- 
erations. The  world  will  never  know  how  eloquent  or  how  foolish,  at  times, 
their  talk,  or  how  angry  their  words.  But  the  men  who  had  achieved  their 
freedom  were  wise  enough  to  see  that  no  man  could  live  to  himself  alone ; 
that  no  one  State  could  live  by  itself;  but  that  something  must  be  given 
up  to  secure  the  greatest  good  of  all.  They  agreed  that  there  should  be  a 
chief  executive  officer,  who  must  sign  the  laws,  and  see  that  they  were  ex- 
ecuted. They  created  departments  of  State,  Treasury,  and  War.  There 
was  to  be  a  second  executive  officer,  who  was  to  preside  over  the  Senate. 
What  should  be  the  titles  of  the  first  and  second  executives?  Kings  and 
emperors  delight  in  high-sounding  names — as  if  a  title  could  add  to  their 
dignity.  Henry  IV.  of  England  had  the  title  of  "  Grace."  Henry  VI. 
called  himself  "Excellent  Grace."      Edward  IV.,  not  content  with  that, 


1787.]  BEGINNING.  21 

assumed  the  title  of  "Most  High  and  Mighty  Prince."  Henry  Till,  ■was 
"  Dread  Sovereign."  The  Pope  gave  him  another  title,  "  Defender  of  the 
Faith."  James  I.,  whom  the  people  called  a  "  wise  fool,"  assumed  the 
title  of  "Sacred  and  Most  Excellent  Majesty;"  and  from  that  time  to  the 
present  the  kings  of  England  have  been  called  "  His  Majesty,"  and  the 
queens  "  Her  Majesty."  Some  of  the  members  of  the  Convention  thought 
that  the  President  should  be  called  "  His  Excellency." 

Benjamin  Franklin  was  a  member.  He  hated  shams  and  superfluity, 
and  loved  truth  and  simplicity.  "  In  that  case,"  he  said,  "  I  suppose,  the 
Vice-President  ought  to  be  called  '  His  Most  Superfluous  Highness.' " 

Sarcasm  and  ridicule,  sometimes,  are  far  more  powerful  than  argu- 
ment. The  Convention  saw  how  ridiculous  it  would  be  to  call  the 
President  "  His  Excellency,"  how  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  a 
government  of  the  people,  and  voted  that  he  should  be  called  simply 
"The  President." 

So  that  agreement  signed  in  the  cabin  of  the  Mayflower  (see  "  Story 
of  Liberty"),  on  a  dreary  winter  day,  by  the  men  who  had  left  the  Old 
World  that  they  might  have  liberty  to  worship  God  in  their  own  way,  and 
not  as  dictated  by  King  James  and  the  archbishops  and  bishops  of  Eng- 
land, or  by  the  Pope  at  Pome,  after  a  century  and  a  half  of  struggles  and 
privations,  blossomed  into  a  written  Constitution — the  first  the  world  had 
ever  seen. 

While  the  National  Convention  was  discussing  the  Constitution  the 
Cougress  of  the  confederation  was  in  session  at  New  York.  Only  eight  of 
the  thirteen  States  were  represented.  It  passed  an  ordinance  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  North-west  Territory — the  great  region  of  country  north 
and  west  of  the  Ohio  Piver  into  which  men  from  Connecticut  and  Massa- 
chusetts were  ready  to  move. 

Nathan  Dane,  of  Massachusetts,  wrote 'the  paper  in  which  it  was  de- 
clared that  there  should  be  no  slaves  in  the  Territory  after  the  year  eigh- 
teen hundred,  but  it  also  declared  that  slaves  from  other  States  should  be 
given  up  if  they  escaped  into  the  Territory.  The  last  was  a  seed  which 
brought  forth  a  great  crop  of  thistles  sixty  years  later.  The  Constitu- 
tion was  not  to  be  binding  upon  the  States  until  adopted  by  nine  of  the 
thirteen. 

What  would  be  the  effect  of  the  Constitution  ?  Those  who  framed  it 
wrere  firm  in  the  belief  that  it  would  work  for  the  good  of  the  people ;  but 
Patrick  Henry,  of  Virginia,  who  had  made  patriotic  speeches  for  liberty 
before  the  Revolution,  opposed  it.  "The  President  will  become  a  king," 
he  said.     There  was  great  opposition  to  it  in  New  York.     General  Lamb 


22 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  I. 


and  manv  of  the  politicians  opposed  it.  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  had 
helped  frame  it,  used  all  of  his  influence  and  his  great  ability  to  secure 
its  adoption  by  the  people  of  the  State.  He  wrote  a  remarkable  series  of 
articles  which  were  published  in  the  newspaper,  and  afterward  in  a  vol- 
ume entitled  "The  Federalist."     Delaware  was  the  first  State  to  adopt  it; 


MAP    OF  THE    NORTH-WEST    TERRITORY. 


then  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Georgia,  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  Mary- 
land, South  Carolina,  and  New  Hampshire.  That  made  the  nine  States; 
but  Virginia  and  Xew  York  were  great  States,  and  nnless  adopted  by 
them  the  Constitution  would  be  a  failure.  The  influence  of  Washington, 
Madison,  and  Monroe  secured  its  adoption  by  Virginia.  The  people  in 
the  City  of  Xew  York  were  in  favor  of  it ;  but  the  Legislature  was  al- 
most evenly  divided.  The  people  in  the  city  determined  to  have  a  grand 
celebration,  to  let  the  Legislature  know  how  they  regarded  it.  Xever,  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  had  there  been  so  grand  a  procession. 

First  came  a  company  of  cavalry,  with  trumpeters  in  advance;  then  a 
company  of  artillery,  with  cannon;  then  wood-choppers,  with  their  axes; 
then  farmers,  with  a  plough  drawn  by  three  yoke  of  oxen,  another  team 
dragging  a  harrow;  and  other  farmers  with  rakes,  pitchforks,  and  flails. 
Another  team  drew  a  newlv-in vented  thrashing-machine.     Following  were 


1787.]  BEGINNING.  23 

the  members  of  the  Society  of  Cincinnati — officers  who  had  fought  in  the 
Revolution — in  their  uniform.  Then  came  a  company  of  gardeners  wear- 
ing; green.  After  them  the  tailors,  with  a  band  of  music.  Then  the 
bakers,  wearing  white  caps  and  frocks,  and  blue  sashes,  carrying  bunches 
of  roses  tied  with  red  ribbons.  Never  was  there  another  loaf  of  bread 
like  theirs  on  a  car  drawn  by  ten  bay  horses.  It  took  a  barrel  of  flour  to 
make  it,  and  to  bake  it  they  were  obliged  to  build  an  oven  for  the  pur- 
pose. After  the  bakers  came  the  brewers,  with  casks  of  ale.  On  one  of 
the  casks  stood  a  boy  with  a  silver  goblet  to  represent  the  old  god  Bac- 
chus.    This  was  the  first  division  of  the  procession. 

The  coopers  headed  the  second  division — thirteen  boys  in  advance, 
wearing  white  frocks  and  trousers,  with  green  ribbons  tied  around  their 
ankles.  After  them  came  forty-two  men,  their  hats  decorated  with  oak- 
leaves.  In  a  wagon,  drawn  by  four  horses,  four  coopers  were  at  work  on 
an  old  cask,  representing  the  old  Confederation,  which  kept  tumbling  to 
pieces ;  by  its  side  was  a  new  cask,  which  represented  the  Constitution, 
which,  the  more  they  pounded  it,  became  all  the  stronger.  After  the 
coopers  were  the  butchers,  in  their  white  frocks,  with  a  meat-stall  on  a  car, 
and  a  fat  ox  following,  with  ribbons  on  his  horns.  Next  came  the  tanners, 
curriers,  skinners,  glove,  waistcoat,  and  leather  breeches  and  parchment 
makers;  rope-makers  ;  three  hundred  and  forty  shoemakers,  some  of  them 
at  work  on  their  benches,  in  a  wagon  ;  two  hundred  carpenters,  with  their 
saws  and  planes;  the  furriers,  with  an  Indian  leading  a  horse.  Two  bears 
sat  oh  a  pile  of  furs  on  the  horse's  back.  Another  Indian,  wearing  a  scar- 
let blanket,  smoked  a  tomahawk  pipe.  Hatters  and  wig-makers  followed  ; 
and  the  confectioners,  carrying  a  great  loaf  four  and  a  half  feet  in  diame-^ 
ter  made  of  sugar,  and  a  great  cake. 

After  them  came  the  stone-masons,  with  the  Temple  of  Fame  on  a  car 
— a  building  representing  the  United  States.  It  had  thirteen  pillars—ten 
of  them  in  place,  the  other  three  ready  to  be  reared.  On  those  in  place 
was  the  motto : 

"  The  foundation  is  firm — the  materials  good, 
Each  pillar's  cemented  with  patriots'  blood." 

The  upholsterers  came  with  a  gorgeous  canopy,  nineteen  feet  high,  of 
blue  satin,  hung  with  gold  and  silver  fringe,  beneath  which  stood  the  God- 
dess of  Liberty.  The  lace  and  fringe  weavers  bore  a  banner  with  this 
inscription  : 

"Never  let  it  perish,  but  piously  transmit  it  to  your  children." 

The  blacksmiths  and  nail-makers  had  a  bellows,  forge,  and  anvil  on  a 
car,  and  while  the  procession  was  moving  kept  the  bellows  roaring  and 


24  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  I. 

the  anvil  ringing.     They  forged  an  anchor.     Above  them  waved  a  banner 
with  this  inscription : 

"  Forge  me  strong,  finish  me  neat  : 
I  soon  shall  moor  a  Federal  fleet." 

The  printers  had  a  printing-press;  the  tinsmiths  and  copper-makers,  a 
tin  house — ten  pillars  in  place,  three  wanting;  above  thein  the  motto: 

"  When  three  more  pillars  rise 
Our  Union  will  the  world  surprise." 

This  the  motto  of  the  dyers : 

"  Glory  to  God." 

The  tallow-chandlers  carried  thirteen  huge  candles,  ten  burning,  three 
not  lighted.  All  the  trades  and  arts  and  societies  were  in  the  procession. 
Learned  men — judges,  Congress,  clergymen,  physicians,  scholars — were  in 
the  procession,  carrying  a  blue  flag  with  this  motto  : 

"  United  we  stand,  divided  we  fall." 

But  grandest  feature  of  all  was  the  Ship  of  State.  Who  first  likened 
the  nation  to  a  ship,  no  one  knows,  but  there  it  was — a  frigate,  with  three 
masts,  yard,  bowsprit,  rigging,  sails,  thirty  sailors  on  deck,  boys  up  in  the 
rigging,  the  stars  and  stripes  at  the  mast-head — all  on  a  huge  car  drawn 
by  ten  stout  horses.     On  its  stern  the  name  of  Hamilton. 

Down  Broadway  moved  the  procession — drums  beating,  banners  wav- 
ing, people  cheering.  Out  in  the  river  lies  a  Spanish  war-ship ;  suddenly 
her  cannon  are  run  out  and  the  Ship  of  State  receives  its  first  national 
salute  of  thirteen  guns.  The  sailors  on  board  the  Hamilton  respond  to 
the  honor  with  their  cannon. 

Out  in  the  fields  beyond  Canal  Street  five  thousand  people  ate  dinner, 
and  in  the  evening  there  was  a  grand  display  of  fireworks. 

The  members  of  the  Assembly  who  had  opposed  the  Constitution  saw 
what  the  people  thought  of  it ;  they  could  no  longer  resist.  It  was  adopted 
by  New  York — leaving  only  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island.  They 
also  adopted  it,  to  try  the  first  experiment  in  history  of  a  Union  of  States, 
a  government  of  the  people,  with  a  written  Constitution. 

Who  should  be  President?  Who  but  George  Washington?  Every- 
body reverenced  him,  had  confidence  in  him,  and  the  people  unanimously 
elected  him.     John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  was  chosen  Vice-President. 

On  April  16th,  17S9,  Washington  left  Mount  Vernon  for  New  York  to 
enter  upon  his  duties.  He  wished  to  travel  quietly,  but  crowds  welcomed 
him  in  every  town.     He  rode  beneath  triumphal  arches,  and  fair  maidens 


1787.] 


BEGINNING. 


25 


strewed  flowers  in  his  path.  He  crossed  from  New  Jersey  to  New  York 
in  an  elegant  barge  manned  by  thirteen  ship-masters,  in  white  uniforms. 
The  ferry  stairs  were  hung  with  crimson.  The  best  carpet  in  the  city  was 
none  too  good  for  him  to  walk  upon  as  he  landed.  Military  companies 
escorted  him  along  the  streets.  Never  before  has  been  heard  the  strain  of 
music  which  crashes  upon  the  air  from  fife,  clarionet,  bassoon,  trumpet,  and 
drum.  The  band-master  Phyla,  leader  of  the  orchestra  at  the  theatre  in 
John  Street,  has  composed  it  for  the  occasion.  He  has  named  it  "  Wash- 
ington's March."  Little  does  he  know  how  it  will  go  down  the  ages  and 
become  one  of  the  hymns  of  the  nation,  the  "Hail,  Columbia!"  of  the 
Republic  which  the  people  are  about  to  establish.  This  is  the  melody  to 
which  the  people  keep  step  as  they  march  to  inaugurate  Washington  Pres- 
ident of  the  first  constitutional  p-overnment  in  the  New  World: 


Washington's  March. 


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26 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  I. 


Flags  wave  from  every  window,  not  only  the  stars  and  stripes,  but 
the  flags  of  all  nations — from  window,  door-way,  and  the  roofs  of  houses. 
•Never  has  there  been  such  a  gathering  of  people  in  the  western  hemi- 
sphere. Hotels,  private  houses,  all  are  full.  Fields  and  pastures  are  thick 
with  tents.  People  from  the  country  spend  the  night  wrapped  in  blankets 
beneath  their  wagons. 

The  great  day  came,  April  30th,  on  which  Washington  was  to  be  in- 
augurated. At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  all  the  church  bells  rung,  and 
the  multitude  thronged  the  meeting-houses  while  prayer  was  offered  that 
the  blessing  of  Almighty  God  might  rest  upon  the  people,  and  upon  the 
President  whom  they  had  chosen.  Once  more  the  military  paraded  and 
marched  in  procession  to  Federal  Hall,  where,  upon  the  balcony,  in  pres- 
ence of  a  great  multitude,  filling  Broadwav  and  Pearl  Street,  throne-ins: 
every  window,  and  standing  upon  all  the  house-tops,  the  President  swore 
to  uphold  the  Constitution,  kissing  the  Bible  to  manifest  his  sincerity. 

"It  is  done."  The  Chancellor  who  had  administered  the  oath  said  it, 
and  up  from  the  multitude,  swelling  in  mighty  chorus,  came  the  shout, 
"Lone;  live  George  Washington,  President  of  the  United  States  !" 

With  the  uttering  of  that  solemn  oath  the  Republic  took  its  place 
amoii";  the  nations. 


Site 


WHERE    WASHINGTON    WAS    INAUGURATED. 


1788.] 


FIRST   YEARS   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION. 


27 


CHAPTER   II. 


FIRST  YEARS   OF   THE   CONSTITUTION. 


A  RICH  and  fertile  soil,  great  rivers,  dark  forests  of  oak,  hickory,  and 
maple,  beavers  building  their  dams  along  the  streams,  the  woods  full 
of  game,  deer,  buffalo,  and  wild  turkeys  —  that  was  the  Ohio  country. 
Manasseh  Cutler  and  Winthrop  Sargent,  of  Boston  ;  General  Rufus  Put- 
nam, General  Parsons,  of  Connecticut;  and  General  Varnuin,  who  fought 
bravely  during  the  Revolution,  formed  a  company,  purchased  five  million 
acres  of  land  from  Congress,  made  their  way  over  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains on  sleds  in  winter,  and,  just  as  the  trees  were  putting  forth  their 
leaves  in  the  spring  of  1788,  floated  down  the  Ohio  River  in  boats,  landed 
at  a  beautiful  spot  where  the  wild  flowers  were  in  bloom,  and  made  a 
settlement,  which  they  named  Marietta,  in  honor  of  Marie  Antoinette, 
Queen  of  France.  It  was  the  first  settlement  in  Ohio.  They  built  a  fort, 
which  they  named  Campus  Martins. 


CAM  ITS    MAUTIUS. 


They  agreed  upon  laws  for  their  own  government,  wrote  them  out, 
and  nailed  the  paper  upon  which  they  were  written  to  a  tree.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  a  new  State.    Congress  had  given  them  no  authority  to  make 


28 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  II. 


laws,  but  they  exercised  their  natural  rights.  They  elected  Mr.  Meigs  , 
Governor.  His  full  name  was  Return  Jonathan  Meigs.  He  was  only 
twenty-two  years  old,  but  his  was  an  old  head  on  young  shoulders.  His 
mother  named  him  Return  Jonathan,  because  when  she  was  a  maiden  in 
Connecticut,  and  Jonathan  Meigs  came  to  ask  her  to  be  his  wife,  she  said 
"No;"  but  the  next  moment  was  sorry,  ran  after  him,  and  cried,  "Return, 
Jonathan !"  and  he  went  back  and  she  became  Mrs.  Meigs,  and  was  so 
glad  that  she  married  him  that  she  named  her  first  baby  Return  Jonathan. 
He  had  been  to  Yale  College,  was  a  lawyer,  and  now  Governor  of  this 
new  settlement. 

While  the  men  of  Connecticut  were  building  their  fort  at  Marietta, 
John  Cleves  Symmes,  of  New  Jersey,  with  a  company  of  men,  floated 
down  the  Ohio  and  made  a  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  little  Miami 
River,  which  they  called  Columbia.  A  hunter  had  built  a  cabin  on  a 
beautiful  plot  of  ground,  with  high  hills  behind  it,  opposite  the  month  of 
Licking  River.  He  called  the  place  Losantiville.  Congress  had  sent  Ma- 
jor Luce  with  a  party  of  soldiers  to  build  a  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  little 


FORT    WASHINGTON,  ON    THE    SITE    OF    CINCINNATI. 


Miami ;  but  the  hunter  at  Losantiville  had  a  wife,  whose  beauty  captivated 
Major  Luce,  and  to  be  near  her  he  built  the  fort  at  that  place,  naming  it 
Fort  Washington,  which  has  become  the  City  of  Cincinnati. 

People  all  through  New  England  heard   of  the   beautiful   and  rich 
Ohio  country,  left  their  homes,  made  their  way  to  Pittsburg,  built  boats, 


1788.] 


FIRST   YEAES   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION. 


29 


DEPARTURE   OF   IMMIGRANTS. 


and  descended  the  stream — twenty  thousand  of  them — between  1787  and 
17S9.  The  President  appointed  General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  the  soldier  of 
the  Revolution,  Governor. 

Who  owned  the  country  —  the  Indians,  the  United  States,  or  Great 
Britain?  The  Indians  claimed  the  hunting-grounds  had  always  been 
theirs.  They  had  roamed  the  woods 
at  will.  They  never  had  ploughed 
the  ground,  but  only  scratched  it 
with  a  stick.  They  never  had  sub- 
dued it,  as  God  commanded  Adam 
to  do  when  he  placed  him  in  Eden. 
That  was  Adam's  title-deed.  The 
white  men  had  come  to  subdue  it — 
to  live  on  the  fruits  of  the  earth — 
not  by  hunting  and  fishing.  In  the 
treaty  with  Great  Britain  the  United 
States  were  to  have  the  country  be- 
yond the  Ohio,  but  British  troops 
were  still  in  the  forts  along  the  Mau- 
mee,  at  Detroit  and  Mackinaw.  Sir 
Guy  Carleton,  who  had  become  Lord  Dorchester,  was  Governor  of  Canada. 

"  The  country  does  not  belong  to  the  Americans,  but  to  yon.  The 
Ohio  River  is  the  boundary,"  he  said  to  the  Indians,  and  sold  them  guns, 
powder,  and  rum.  The  savages,  set  on  by  Lord  Dorchester  and  British 
officers,  stole  through  the  forests,  and  whenever  they  came  upon  an  Amer- 
ican hunter  shot  him  down  and  took  his  scalp.  They  crept  upon  the 
settlers  at  work,  fired  upon  them  from  behind  trees,  shot  their  wives  and 
children,  and  burnt  their  cabins. 

There  were  several  forts  along  the  river — Fort  Harmar,  at  the  mouth 
of  Muskingum  River;  the  fort  at  Marietta;  Fort  Washington,  at  Cincin- 
nati;  Fort  Steuben,  at  Jeffersonville,  Indiana;  Fort  Vincennes,  on  the 
Wabash  River,  which  the  French  had  built  before  they  were  driven  from 
Canada.  The  President  sent  General  Harmar,  with  fourteen  hundred 
men,  to  punish,  the  Indians. 

He  started  from  Cincinnati.  His  troops  made  their  way  through  the 
dark  forests  to  the  Maumee  River,  where  the  Indians  had  several  villages. 
The  Indians  fled,  and  the  soldiers  set  their  wigwams  on  fire.  Colonel 
Hardin,  with  a  portion  of  the  troops,  followed  on.  Suddenly  rifles  were 
cracking  around  them,  and  twenty-two  soldiers  were  shot  down.  Colonel 
Hardin  was  full  of  fight,  and  persuaded  General  Harmar  to  make  a  night 


80 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  II. 


FORT   HARMAK. 


march  and  attack  the  Indian  town  which  stood  on  the  bank  of  the  river 
opposite  the  present  city  of  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana.  Major  Hall,  with  some 
of  the  troops,  was  sent  across  the  river  to  get  in  rear  of  the  Indians,  while 
General  Harmar  and  Major  Wyllys,  with  the  remainder,  in  two  columns, 

were  to  fall  upon  the  town. 

The  troops  picked  their  way 
through  the  woods  by  the  light 
of  the  stars.  Everything  prom- 
ised success ;  but  Major  Hall,  dis- 
covering an  Indian,  fired  at  him, 
which  alarmed  the  whole  Indian 
encampment.  The  battle  began, 
the  Indians  firing  from  behind 
trees  and  from  the  thick  under- 
brush. The  soldiers  began  to 
fall.  They  saw  only  flashes  and 
puffs  of  smoke,  and  occasionally 
a  dusky  form. 

The  party  under  Hall  was 
cut  to  pieces.  The  men  under 
Harmar,  hearing  the  sad  news,  grew  pale,  lost  their  courage,  refused  to 
march;  and  General  Harmar,  having  lost  two  hundred,  fell  back  to  Cin- 


HALL s  cuossim;. PLACE. 


1791.] 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   THE   CONSTITUTION. 


31 


&■  *T    FIGHT  BETWEEN  MILITIA 
J,      ***  ^,ANO  INDIANS 


cinnati ;  while  the  Indians,  though  they  had  lost  many  warriors,  flourished 
their  scalping-knives  and  tomahawks  and  celebrated  their  grand  victory. 

General  Scott, of  Ken- 
tucky, with  eight  hundred  ^ 
men  on  horseback,  made 
a  quiet  march  into  the 
country,  killed  thirty-two 
Indians,  and  destroyed 
some  of  their  towns ;  and 
General  Wilkinson  left 
Cincinnati  and  destroyed 
many  of  their  villages ; 
which  made  them  all  the 
more  bloodthirsty  and  re- 
lentless. General  St.  Clair 
was  Governor  of  Ohio.  It 
was  he  whom  Burgoyne 
compelled  to  evacuate  Ti- 

conderoga  in  1777.  He  marched  with  two  thousand  men  to  give  battle  to 
the  Indians.  "I  caution  you  against  being  surprised,"  said  Washington, 
whom  the  Indians  were  never  able  to  surprise.  It  was  a  calm  and  peace- 
ful September  evening  when  his  soldiers  spread  their  blankets  on  the 
bank  of  a  little  stream.     They  had  seen  signs  of  Indians  during  the  clay, 


32 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  II. 


But  St.  Clair  was  not  expecting  to  be  attacked — he  had  come  to  attack. 
The  morning  of  the  24th  of  September  was  calm  and  clear.  The  troops 
were  at  breakfast,  when  suddenly  they  heard  the  terrible  howling  of  two 
thousand  Indians,  under  Chief  Little  Turtle  and  a  cruel  white  man,  Simon 
Girty.     Very  few  of  the  men  under  St.  Clair  had  ever  been  in  battle ; 


ANTHONY    WAYNE. 


many  of  them  turned  pale  at  the  fearful  outcry.  Bullets  were  flying, 
the  men  falling,  but  the  soldiers  rallied  and  fired  resolutely.  The  Indians 
quickly  picked  off  the  gunners  of  the  four  cannon.  St.  Clair  was  very 
brave ;  three  horses  were  killed  beneath  him,  eight  bullets  passing  through 
his  clothes.  For  three  hours  the  battle  went  on,  till  nearly  half  of  his 
men  were  killed  or  wounded,  when  he  ordered  a  retreat,  which  became 
a  panic — the  men  throwing  away  their  guns,  ammunition,  everything  that 


1794.] 


FIRST   YEARS   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION. 


could  hinder  them;  the  Indians  taking  possession  of  cannon,  wagons,  pro- 
visions— everything — and  dancing  in  wild  delight  over  their  great  victory. 
President  Washington  sent  commissioners  to  make  peace  with  the  Indians; 
but  the  British  general,  Simcoe,  sent  word  to  them  not  to  give  up  their 
lands,  and  the  commissioners  returned  without  accomplishing  anything. 

Anthoiry  Wayne  was  appointed  Governor  of  Ohio.  "Mad  Anthony" 
people  called  him,  because  he  was  so  daring  in  battle.  It  was  he  who 
led  the  troops  in  the  midnight  attack  on  Stony  Point,  as  narrated  in  the 
"Boys  of  '76."  The  Indians  were  still  murdering  and  scalping  settlers 
and  burning  their  cabins.  Wayne  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  it  once  and 
forever.  He  assembled  an  army  of  three  thousand  men.  Through  the 
winter  of  1793  the  soldiers  were  drilled.  General  Wayne  knew  the  value 
of  disciplined  troops.  In  July  he  was  on  the  march.  He  understood 
the  Indians,  and  was  ever  on  the  watch  against  being  surprised.  He 
sent  a  messenger  to  them  with  kind  words  offering  peace,  but  the  British 
officers  in  the  forts  on  the  Maumee  advised  the  Indians  to  fight.  Wayne 
marched  on — his  army  so  arranged,  with  videttes  out  on  all  sides,  that  the 
Indians  could  not  surprise  him. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Maumee  River,  above  the  rapids,  twelve  miles 
from  Lake  Erie,  the  Indians  gathered  to  fight.  They  secreted  themselves 
behind  the  trees.  Their  chief,  whose  Indian  name  was  Me-sa-sa,  but 
whose  English  name  was  Turkey -foot,  secreted  himself  behind  a  large 
rock.  There  were  nearly  three  thousand  warriors,  besides  some  British 
and  Canadians.  The  Indians  fired  a  volley  and  yelled  the  war-whoop. 
The  soldiers  were  expecting  it,  and  in- 
stead of  turning  pale  and  taking  to 
their  heels,  fired  steadily,  driving  the  In- 
dians from  their  hiding-places.  When 
they  began  to  run  Turkey-foot  jumped 
upon  the  rock,  shouting  to  them  to  stop, 
but  the  next  moment  he  leaped  into 
the  air  and  fell  dead.  The  Indians, 
seeing  him  fall,  lost  their  courage  and 
fled  panic-stricken  through  the  woods. 
When  the  battle  was  over  some  of  them 
returned  and  chiselled  figures  of  a  tur- 
key's foot  in  the  rock,  to  show  their 
love  and  admiration  for  their  fallen 
chief.  General  Wayne  burnt  all  their 
wigwams,  destroyed  the  corn  they  had  planted,  and  inflicted  such  a  blow 

3 


FLAN   OF    BATTLE. 


u 


BUILDIXG   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  II. 


that  they  had  no  heart  to  fight  any  longer.  They  made  a  treaty  of  peace, 
and  the  British,  by  a  new  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  evacuated  all  the  forts  in  the  North-west  Territory.  With  peace 
secured,  a  great  tide  of  settlers  poured  over  the  Alleghanies  and   took 


0XRKEY-FOOT    ROCK. 


possession  of  the  fair  domain,  transforming  the  forests  into  fields  of  wav- 
ing grain,  making  it  blossom  with  towns,  villages,  school- houses,  and 
churches. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  numbered  3,660,000.  They  owed  a 
great  deal  of  money,  and  to  pay  the  debt  of  the  nation  Congress  established 
a  tariff  taxing  goods  brought  from  other  countries  and  the  vessels  of  other 
countries  bringing  them.  A  law  was  passed  taxing  the  manufacture  of 
whiskey,  which  made  the  whiskey-drinkers  of  Pennsylvania  very  angiy. 
They  organized  a  rebellion,  but  when  the  troops  were  sent  against  them 
they  quickly  disbanded.  The  majority  of  the  people  accepted  the  law 
which  they  themselves  had  made  through  their  representatives  in  Congress. 

The  plan  for  raising  money  was  devised  by  Alexander  Hamilton,  and 
was  approved  by  Washington  and  John  Adams,  but  it  was  opposed  by 
Thomas  Jefferson.  It  was  the  beginning  of.  a  great  conflict  of  ideas, 
which,  though  nearly  a  century  has  passed,  is  not  yet  ended.  Free  gov- 
ernments are  based  on  ideas.  It  is  well  for  the  human  race  that  men  do 
not  all  think  alike,  for  if  there  were  no  diversity  of  opinion  there  would  be 
little  progress.  Washington,  Adams,  and  Hamilton  wanted  Congress  and 
the  President  to  have  much  more  power  over  the  States  than  Jefferson  did. 


1794.] 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   THE   CONSTITUTION. 


35 


who  was  afraid  that  if  the  States  yielded  any  of  their  power  Congress 
would  become  tyrannical.  Those  who  agreed  with  Jefferson  were  called 
Republicans,  those  who  agreed  with  Washington  and  Hamilton  and  Adams 
were  called  Federalists. 


GENERAL    WAYNE'S    HOME. 


The  Republicans  accused  the  Federalists  of  desiring  to  overthrow  the 
Republic  and  set  up  a  monarchy.  They  slandered  Washington  by  report- 
ing that  he  wished  to  become  a  king,  and  were  greatly  offended  because, 
when  elected  President,  he  returned  no  visits  and  maintained  a  courtly 
etiquette.  He  believed  that  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation,  as  repre- 
senting the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  should  be  treated  with  due  respect 
and  honor.  He  rode  in  a  coach  drawn  by  six  horses,  and  he  needed  them, 
for  it  was  a  heavy,  lumbering  affair.  Two  footmen  rode  behind.  When 
he  walked  the  streets  his  body-servant  in  livery  followed  him  at  a  respect- 
ful distance.     People  could  not  run  into  his  house  and  shake  hands  with 


36 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  II. 


him  at   all   hours,  but  only  on   Tuesday   afternoons   from   three  to   four 
o'clock.     All  of  which  gave  great  offence  to  the  Republicans. 


DRAWING-ROOM,  WAYNE    HOMESTEAD. 


The  Republicans  were  also  offended  because  Mrs.  Washington  held  re- 
ceptions which  were  confined  to  persons  connected  with  the  government 
and  their  families,  foreign  ministers,  and  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  refined 
society.  The  guests  must  appear  in  full  dress.  Mrs.  Washington  stood 
upon  a  dais,  and  the  guests  bowed  and  courtesied  when  presented. 

The  etiquette  was  distasteful  to  the  President  and  Mrs.  Washington. 
"I  think  that  I  am  a  state  prisoner,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend.  He  submitted 
to  it  because  the  President  was  the  head  of  the  nation. 

The  Federalists  accused  the  Republicans  of  having  little  regard  for 


17D4.] 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   THE   CONSTITUTION. 


37 


law  and  order;  of  degrading  the  majesty  of  law.  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
other  leading  Republicans  paid  little  attention  to  dress.  If  a  gentleman 
wore  good  clothes  the  Republicans  said  that  he  was  an  aristocrat  and  a 
Federalist.  They  wanted  the  President  accessible  to  everybody,  and  main- 
tained that  the  man  who  held  office,  wore  good  clothes,  and  moved  in  the 
most  refined  circles  of  society,  was  no  better  and  should  be  entitled  to  no 
more  privileges  than  the  man  who  worked  for  his  daily  bread,  and  who 
could  not  afford  to  wear  costly  clothing.     A  man  was  a  man.     There  was 


WASHINGTON    AND    HIS    SERVANT. 


a  war  of  words,  much  bitterness  of  feeling,  but  the  people  had  no  time  to 
attend  to  eticpiette.  They  were  laying  the  foundations  of  a  new  empire; 
attending  to  their  own  affairs.  They  believed  in  law  and  order,  and  were 
ready  tu  sustain  the  President  in  his  efforts  to  execute  the  laws. 


38 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  II. 


WASHINGTON    ATTENDING    A    BALL. 


The  financial  plan  thought  out  by  Hamilton  became  popular.  The 
people  saw  that  in  time  the  money  collected  on  goods  and  vessels  from 
other  countries  would  not  only  pay  the  expense  of  government,  but  would 
pay  oft:  the  debt  of  the  nation. 


1794.] 


FIEST   YEARS   OF   THE   CONSTITUTION. 


41 


The  promises  to  pay  issued  by  the  government,  which  people  thought 
were  good  for  nothing,  began  to  have  a  value.  They  rose  so  rapidly  that 
men  who  had  been  poor  found  that  they  were  well  off  as  to  property.  Be- 
fore the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  if  a  man  in  New  York  owed  money 
in  Massachusetts,  and  did  not  want  to  pay,  he  could  snap  his  fingers  in  the 
face  of  his  creditors,  who  had  no  way  of  collecting  it.  To  secure  justice, 
Congress  established  a  court  for  the  whole  nation,  and  John  Jay,  of  New 
York,  was  appointed  Chief-justice;  but 
instead  of  sitting  as  judge,  he  went  to 
England  on  a  special  mission,  and  Oliver 
Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut,  became  the 
first  acting  Chief-justice. 

To  provide  bank-notes,  which  should 
be  good  anywhere  in  the  country,  Con- 
gress granted  a  charter  for  a  bank,  with 
ten  million  dollars  capital.  Jefferson 
and  the  Republican  party  opposed  it,  as 
an  institution  that  would  be  dangerous 
to  the  liberties  of  the  people. 

With  a  written  Constitution,  with  just 
and  equal  laws  for  all  the  people,  with 
industry  and  thrift,  come  prosperity.  The  lumbermen  levelled  the  forests. 
Along  the  bays  and  harbors  of  New  England  ship-carpenters  were  swing- 
ing their  axes,  building  vessels  for  the  merchants  of  Portsmouth,  Salem, 
Boston,  Newport,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore.  Up  and  down 
the  Atlantic,  to  the  West  Indies,  to  England,  France,  through  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar,  to  the  ports  of  Italy,  sailed  their  ships,  signalling  to  the  people 
of  the  Old  World  the  rise  of  the  new  Republic. 


OLIVER    ELLSWORTH. 


42  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  III. 


CHAPTER   III. 

TEACHING   BY   EXAMPLE. 

nPIIE  people  of  America  were  setting  the  world  a  great  example  by 
J-  ruling  themselves  wisely  under  a  written  Constitution.  They  had 
established  a  government  on  intelligence,  justice,  the  equal  rights  of  all; 
on  virtue,  morality,  and  religion. 

We  teach  by  example.  The  people  of  France  saw  that  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  were  making  their  own  laws,  electing  their  own  rulers, 
respecting  and  obeying  them  as  representing  the  grand  idea  of  law  and 
order.  France  had  sent  her  fleets  and  soldiers  to  help  the  United  States 
gain  their  independence,  and  the  people  of  that  country  were  greatly 
moved  by  the  example.  They  were  living  under  a  government  which  had 
come  down  from  the  feudal  ages.  The  King  could  do  as  he  pleased — 
make  war,  raise  armies,  build  fleets  and  tax  the  people,  to  gratify  his  am- 
bition, revenge,  or  love  of  applause. 

Louis  XIV.  and  Louis  XV.  used  to  send  men  to  prison  who  were 
charged  with  no  crime,  keeping  them  in  dark  and  gloomy  dungeons  till 
they  became  old  and  gray-haired,  or  till  death  set  them  free. 

Of  all  the  gloomy  prisons  in  France,  the  gloomiest  and  most  horrible 
was  the  Bastile,  in  Paris.  Its  walls  were  nine  feet  thick,  one  hundred 
high,  towering  far  above  all  surrounding  houses.  It  could  be  reached 
only  by  a  drawbridge  over  a  wide,  deep  ditch.  The  door  was  of  oak, 
seven  inches  thick,  bolted  through  and  through  with  iron.  It  swung  on 
massive,  creaking  hinges,  and  was  fastened  with  bolts,  bars,  and  chains,  and 
a  huge  lock.  Dark,  deep,  damp  the  dungeons,  dripping  ever  with  water, 
alive  with  vermin.  Beneath  the  floor  of  stone  were  darker,  deeper,  gloom- 
ier vaults.  Xo  stairway  led  down  to  them.  They  were  called  oubliettes. 
The  architect  who  planned  the  Bastile  took  a  bottle  for  his  model  in  con- 
structing them.  The  neck  was  at  the  top  just  large  enough  to  receive  a 
victim.  They  were  twenty-two  feet  dee]).  Xo  straggling  ray  of  light 
ever  entered  them.  The  floor  was  knee-deep  with  mud  and  slime,  and 
the  bones  of  victims  who  had  been  dropped  into  them,  through  the  cen- 
turies, to  die  of  starvation. 


1739.]  TEACHING  BY  EXAMPLE.  43 

The  King  could  put  whom  he  pleased  into  this  horrible  prison.  He 
issued  lettres  de  cachet — orders  for  arrest  of  individuals — and  the  sheriff 
hustled  them  into  the  Bastile  without  trial.  No  court  could  help  them. 
Once  within  the  dungeons,  they  were  dead  to  the  world.  Louis  XV.  signed 
his  name  to  blank  letters  and  gave  them  to  his  friends  and  mistresses  to 
fill  in  as  they  pleased  the  names  of  those  whom  they  wished  to  punish. 
During  his  reign  more  than  150,000  such  warrants  were  signed  by  him. 

He  wanted  money,  and  demanded  $120,000  of  M.  Massot. 

"  I  cannot  pay  it." 

"  Into  the  Bastile  with  him  !" 

The  sheriff  executed  the  order,  and  seized  the  money. 

M.  Catalan  was  very  rich.  The  King  issued  an  order  for  his  arrest. 
He  was  put  into  the  Bastile,  and  did  not  get  out  till  he  handed  over 
$1,200,000 !  It  was  a  gay  banquet  which  the  King  gave  to  his  courtiers 
and  their  mistresses  at  Versailles  with  the  money  thus  obtained — a  ban- 
quet which  cost  $200,000 ! 

Madame  de  Pompadour  ruled  France  through  Louis  XV.  Woe  to 
him  who  aroused  her  displeasure.  M.  Latucle,  twenty  years  old,  offended 
her,  and  she  determined  that  he  should  feel  her  power.  The  great  door 
of  the  Bastile  closed  upon  him.  The  years  went  on.  Great  battles  were 
fought  —  all  the  fighting  at  Ticonderoga,  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  at 
Bunker  Hill,  Saratoga,  Yorktown ;  the  United  States  became  a  nation  ; 
Madame  Pompadour,  the  King,  went  down  to  the  grave;  and  M.  Latucle 
the  while,  till  1784,  was  a  prisoner  in  the  Bastile  ! 

Louis  XVI.,  who  came  to  the  throne  in  1774,  who  helped  America 
gain  her  independence,  issued  during  the  eighteen  years  of  his  reign  four- 
teen thousand  orders  of  arrest.  He  was  kind-hearted;  but  it  was  the  work- 
ing of  the  old  feudal  system  of  government  which  gave  him  all  power 
over  the  liberties  and  lives  of  the  people. 

For  sixty  years  Louis  XY.,  weak,  mean,  and  wicked,  had  plundered 
the  people  of  France.  He  regarded  France  as  his  property,  the  people 
as  his  subjects,  to  be  slaughtered  in  battle,  to  work  for  his  benefit  and 
pleasure.  The  great  men,  the  nobility,  were  his  servants.  Every  morning 
they  gathered  in  the  palace  at  Versailles  to  help  him  dress  for  the  day — 
one  to  hold  the  wash-bowl ;  another  to  baud  him  a  towel ;  the  third  to 
pass  him  his  shirt.  If  they  wanted  money  he  supplied  them  out  of  the 
royal  revenue.  He  cared  nothing  for  the  welfare  or  happiness  of  the 
people.  He  knew  that  he  was  hurrying  the  country  to  ruin;  but  little 
cared  he.     "  After  us  the  deluge,"  he  said. 

The  noblemen,  the  bishops,  priests,  officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  the 


44 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  III. 


judges — all  the  great  families — paid  no  taxes,  but  received  great  revenues 
from  the  people.  The  nobility  had  nothing  to  do  except  to  eat,  drink, 
attend  balls  or  hunting-parties,  and  play  cards.  They  lived  in  fine  cha- 
teaus.  They  had  beautiful  parks,  gardens,  and  hunting-  grounds.  The 
laws  were  in  their  interest  and  against  the  people.  They  owned  all  the 
corn-mills.  The  people  were  nut  allowed  to  use  the  free  winds  of  heaven 
to  turn  a  mill  uf  their  own,  but  they  must  carry  their  corn  to  the  mill 
owned  by  the  seigneur,  that  he  might  take  toll  from  the  grist.  The  people 
could  gather  no  fagots  blown  by  the  wind  from  the  trees;  they  could  not 
even  gather  the  weeds  from  the  roadside  to  heat  their  ovens,  but  must  take 


1789.] 


TEACHING  BY   EXAMPLE. 


45 


■:    .,  ■ 


.v 


their  flour  to  the  seigneur's  bakery  to  be  baked  into  bread.     Poor  bread  it 

was.     There  were  rabbits  in  the  warren,  but  they  belonged  to  the  master 

of  the   estate  ;  they  might   eat  the 

poor  man's  cabbage,  but  what  cared  ;  , 

the  seigneurs  ?     There  were  hogs  in        Ji§| 

the  woods  which  rooted  up  the  poor  ^ 

man's    garden,    but    the    pom'    man     .  '    -|x^ 

could  not  kill  them.      The  seigneurs 


and  their  friends  alone  had  the  right 
of  hunting.  The  tax-collectors  came 
several  times  a  year  to  the  poor  man's 
home,  never  to  the  chateau.  Of  ev- 
ery sixteen  dollars  produced  from 
the  land  by  the  hard-working  peas- 
ants, the  King  and  the  Church  took 
ten,  the  nobleman  who  owned  the 
land  five,  leaving  one  for  the  poor 
jnan  and  his  family! 

The  world  was  moving  toward 
a  new  era  —  a  new  civilization.     In    ' 

<~     *,  i  c    -\t  -vr       1  VOLTAIRE. 

1767,  after  the  people  of  JNew  York 

and  New  England,  with  the  troops  under  General  Amherst  and  General 
Wolfe,  drove  the  French  out  of  Canada,  the  British  Government  under- 
took to  tax  the  colonies  without  their  consent.  Then  came  the  throwing 
of  the  tea  overboard  in  Boston  Harbor — the  resistance  which  led  up  to 
Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill.  During  those  years  Voltaire  and  Rousseau, 
and  other  learned  men,  were  writing  and  speculating  about  liberty  and 
equal  rights.  The  pamphlets  written  by  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Thomas 
Paine  were  published  in  France.  The  people  of  that  country  began  to 
see  that  they  were  oppressed  by  two  distinct  tyrannies — by  the  King,  and 
by  the  bishop  and  archbishop.  The  King  contracted  great  debts.  Men 
who  lent  him  money  had  hard  work  to  get  their  pay.  He  sent  men  to  the 
Bastile  without  any  warrant.  If  a  creditor  were  clamorous  for  his  pay  the 
sheriff  could  hustle  him  off  to  the  gloomy  prison,  and  that  was  the  end  of 
it.  The  King  set  the  example  for  the  nation  in  extravagance  and  vice. 
Minister,  judge,  general,  became  as  depraved  as  he;  all  had  their  price; 
all  plundered  as  they  had  opportunity. 

The  Church  was  as  corrupt  as  the  King.  It  owned  a  great  deal  of  the 
best  land,  but  paid  no  taxes,  which  made  it  all  the  worse  for  the  people. 
The  bishops  and  priests  lived  luxuriously  on  the  revenue  wrung  from  the 


46 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  III. 


'""3»^ 


people  by  charging  fees  for  every  rite  and  service  —  baptism,  marriage, 
burial,  and  masses  for  the  dead.  From  the  cradle  to  the  grave  the 
people  must  continue  to  give  to  the  Church  if  they  were  to  expect  any 
happiness  in  this  world  or  the  next.  Many  of  the  priests  were  living 
corrupt  lives,  giving  the  lie  to  all  their  professions.  They  were  hypocrites 
— wolves  in  sheep's  clothing ;  and  by  the  wit,  sneers,  sarcasm  of  Voltaire ' 
and  Kousseau  the  people  began  to  lose  respect  for  the  Church  and  faith 
in  religion. 

Louis  XVI.  was  amiable  but  weak.  He  helped  the  United  States 
gain  their  independence,  not  because  he  cared  for  the  liberty  of  the  peo- 
ple of  America,  but  to  spite  England  for  having  wrenched  Canada  from 
France.  The  harvests  were  bad  in  France,  not  alone  because  the  sun 
did  not  shine,  or  because  there  was  little  rain,  but  because  those  who 

owned  the  great  estates  were  doino-  nothing; 
to  enrich  their  lands.  They  were  exacting 
all  they  could  from  the  peasants  and  spend- 
ing it  in  Paris.  The  peasants  were  becoming 
poorer;  bread  was  dearer.  In  July,  1788, 
there  came  a  hail-storm  overXorthern  Frauce, 
destroying  twenty  million  dollars'  worth  of 
grain.  There  were  hordes  of  beggars,  so 
hungry  that  they  fought  with  the  dogs  for  a 
bone  to  gnaw.  The  poor  creatures  could  get 
no  work,  and  began  to  steal.  The  peasants 
could  not  pay  their  taxes,  and  the  sheriff  sold 
their  goods  and  marched  them  off  to  prison. 
The  famishing  people  in  the  towns,  becom- 
ing desperate,  made  a  rush  upon  the  bakeries,  seizing  the  bread,  ripping 
open  the  sacks,  and  helping  themselves  to  flour.  They  plundered  the 
farmers  on  their  way  to  market,  and  the  consequence  was  that  the  farm- 
ers stayed  at  home,  and  the  people  in  the  cities  became  hungrier  than 
ever. 

The  people  of  France  saw  that  the  Americans  had  established  a  gov- 
ernment which  recognized  no  king  or  bishop — a  government  in  which 
the  people  elected  their  rulers,  and  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
were  prosperous  and  happy.     Why  should  not  France  be  happy  also  ? 

"Vive  la  liberte  !"  The  starving  people  of  the  city  of  Xantes  shout- 
ed it  on  June  14,  17S9,  and  rushed  upon  the  bakers'  shops  and  helped 
themselves  to  bread.  Bread-riots  broke  out  in  other  towns.  Something 
must  be  done. 


LOUIS    XVI. 


1789.] 


TEACHING   BY  EXAMPLE. 


47 


The  Government  of  France  was  supposed  to  consist  of  three  Chambers 
— the  Nobles,  the  Clergy,  and  the  Commons — but  for  one  hundred  and 
seventy  years  the  Bonrbon  kings  had  ruled  as  they  pleased  without  con- 
sulting the  Chambers.  Louis  XVI.  was  obliged  to  call  them  now ;  and 
on  May  5,  1789,  they  met  at  Versailles  —  twelve  hundred  in  all.  They 
met  in  a  great  hall — the  King,  the  Queen,  their  children,  on  a  gorgeous 
throne,  brilliant  with  purple  and  gold.     Next  below  were  the  Nobles,  in 


THE    THREE    ORDERS. 


gold-laced  coats  and  nodding  plumes;  then  the  Clergy — the  archbishops 
and  bishops,  magnificent  in  scarlet  and  gold;  below  them  were  the  six 
hundred  Commons,  in  plain  clothes.  The  Nobles  and  Clergy  looked 
down  upon  the  representatives  of  the  people,  and  they  had  a  cunningly 
devised  plan  to  outvote  them.  It  was  the  old  plan  of  feudal  times — not 
for  each  member  to  vote,  but  for  one  man  to  represent  each  order  when 
they  came  to  voting,  so  that  the  Nobles  and  Clergy  by  uniting  could  al- 
ways outvote  the  Commons.     Lafayette  presented  to  the  Assembly  a  Dec- 


IS 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  III. 


laration  of  Rights  almost  exactly  like  that  which  Thomas  Jefferson  wrote 
when  the  United  States  declared  themselves  independent  in  1775 — that 
all  men  are  free  and  equal.  It  was  Jefferson  who  aided  Lafavette  in 
preparing  it. 

Men  who  have  had  long  lease  of  power  do  not  like  to  lay  it  down. 
The  bishops  and  nobles  had  no  intention  of  allowing  the  people  to  rule 
themselves;  they  had  told  the  King  that  he  must  bring  an  army  to  Ver- 
sailles to  put  down  the  Commons  and  the  people,  and  the  army  had  come. 
It  was  on  Saturday,  July  11,  that  Lafayette  presented  the  Declaration 
of  Rights.  Sunday  came.  Troops  were  marching.  It  was  whispered 
that  the  Commons  were  to  be  dispersed,  and  the  people  mowed  down  by 
cannon  if  they  made  any  disturbance.  A  great  crowd  assembled  in 
the  Palais  Royal  garden.      "What  is  to  be  done?"  they  asked. 


CAMILLE    DESMOTJLINS. 


A  young  man,  with  a  pistol  in  each  hand  to  defend  himself,  jumped 
upon  one  of  the  tables  where  the  people  were  accustomed  to  sip 
their  wine.  "To  arms!  to  arms!  we  must  defend  ourselves !"  he  shout- 
ed. It  was  Camille  Desmonlins.  He  plucked  a  green  leaf  from  the 
horse-chestnut-tree  above  him  and  put  it  in  his  hat-band  for  a  plume. 
The  people  took  up  the  cry:  "To  arms!  to  arms!"  And  women  plucked 
the  chestnut-leaves  and  put  them  in  their  hats.     They  had  no  arms,  but 


1789.] 


TEACHING  BY   EXAMPLE. 


49 


there  were  muskets  and  cannon  in  the  Hotel  des  Invalides.  They  broke 
it  open  and  armed  themselves.  "  Down  with  the  Bastile !"  The  cry  rung 
through  the  streets.  A  great  multitude  gathered,  rushed  to  the  gloomy 
prison,  planted  their  cannon  to  batter  down  the  gate.  The  Swiss 
Guards  within  fired  upon  them  ;  the  cannon  thundered.     Men  were  shot 


SACKING    THE    ARSENAL. 


down.  The  French  Guards  in  the  Bastile  were  heart  and  soul  with  the 
people.  They  hung  out  a  white  flag,  and  the  prison  was  surrendered.  A 
duke  rode  to  Versailles  with  the  news. 

"  It  is  a  revolt,"  said  the  King. 

"  It  is  a  revolution,"  replied  the  duke. 

"  I  will  order  the  troops  away,"  said  the  King.  He  issued  the  order, 
but  the  "deluge"  had  come.  Blood-thirsty  men  were  roaming  the  streets 
of  Paris,  murdering  men  and  women  of  noble  birth.  The  National  As- 
sembly ordered  the  Bastile  to  be  torn  down,  and  the  people  levelled  it 
to  the  ground. 

The  National  Assembly,  imitating  the  example  of  the  United  States, 


50 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  III. 


made  a  written  constitution.  But  the  people  of  France  knew  very  little  as 
to  what  constitutional  freedom  is.  They  thought  that  government  must 
do  everything;  themselves  nothing,  except  to  run  the  government.  De- 
signing, wicked,  blood-thirsty  men   planned  to  put  themselves  in  power. 


TAKING    OF    THE    BASTILE.  — [FROM    AX    OLD    PRINT.] 

They  were  ignorant  and  brutal.  They  determined  to  get  rid  of  all  past 
things,  and  to  begin  a  new  era.  All  through  the  centuries  bishops  and 
priests  had  been  heaping  up  money  for  the  Church,  until  the  property  of 
the  Church  was  worth1"  $400,000,000,  and  yielded  815,000,000  revenue 
every  year.     The  bishops  and  prelates  were  living  in  luxury,  while  the 


1789.] 


TEACHING  BY  EXAMPLE. 


51 


people  were  starving.  The  Church  owned  one-third  of  the  soil  of  France. 
"  The  property  belongs  to  the  people,"  said  the  National  Assembly,  and 
took  it  for  the  use  of  the  State. 

The  great  estates  held  by  the  seigneurs  were  divided  into  small  farms. 
It  was  a  great  change.  The  people  thought  that  they  had  obtained  their 
rights  and  liberties.  How  delightful  it  was !  They  stopped  work  and 
roamed  the  streets  singing,  and  shouting  "  Liberty  and  equality !" 

There  were  two  parties  in  the  National  Assembly.  The  deputies  from 
the  Province  of  Gironde,  in  South-western  France,  were  intelligent  men. 
They  were  ardent  patriots.  Their  leader,  Brissot,  wished  to  secure  freedom 
without  violence  or  bloodshed.  Those  who  sided  with  him  were  called 
Girondists. 

The  men  who  wanted  to  sweep  away  all  old  things  formed  a  club. 
There  were  about  forty  of  them  at  the  beginning,  and  they  took  the  name 
of  the  "  Breton   Club "  at  first,  but  they  are  known   in  history  as  the 


CLUB-HOUSE    OF   THE    JACOBINS. [FROM    AN    OLD    PRINT.] 


Jacobins.  When  Innocent  III.  was  Pope  of  Rome,  in  1215,  Dominic  de 
Guzman  formed  an  order  of  friars  to  put  down  heretics.  They  wore  black 
gowns,  and  in  England  were  called  the  Black-friars — in  France,  Jaco- 
bins. The  Breton  Club  held  its  meetings  in  a  building  which  the  Jaco- 
bins formerly  used,  and  the  people  soon  became  accustomed  to  call  them 


52  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  III. 

Jacobins.  The)7  held  secret  meetings  to  lay  plots  against  the  government. 
They  were  for  cutting  off  the  heads  of  the  nobles  and  confiscating  their 
property.  Dr.  Joseph  Ignatius  Guillotin  invented  a  machine  for  cutting 
off  heads.     "  It  will  do  it  so  quick  that  yon  will  not  know  it,"  he  said. 

The  Jacobins  hated  bishops,  the  Church,  the  nobles.  They  had  no  be- 
lief in  God  or  immortality.  The  nation  had  lost  its  faith  in  all  religion 
through  the  terrible  oppression  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  the  in- 
iquities and  wickedness  of  the  cardinals,  bishops,  and  all  the  high-born 
prelates,  who  plundered  the  people  and  lived  scandalous  lives.  The  Jaco- 
bins were  determined  to  root  out  the  Church  and  all  connected  with  it. 

A  great  rabble  of  vagabonds  had  hastened  to  Paris,  to  be  where  there 
was  so  much  excitement.  Bread  was  growing  more  scarce.  The  cry  goes 
up  that  the  aristocrats  intend  to  starve  the  people.  It  is  on  October  5, 
17S9,  that  a  woman  seizes  a  drum  and  begins  to  beat  it.  "Bread  !  bread  !" 
cry  the  rabble.  A  great  crowd  gathers,  hastens  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 
The  women  make  a  rush  upon  the  National  Guards  at  the  door.  Behind 
the  women  are  men  with  swords  and  hatchets.  The  Guards  give  way,  the 
crowd  rush  in,  seize  the  guns,  pistols,  and  cannon. 

"  To  Versailles  !"  is  the  cry,  and  the  rabble-women,  with  great  brawny 
arms,  uncombed  hair,  rough  men  in  rags,  march  down  the  street  shouting, 
"  Bread  !  bread  !"  A  drummer  leads  them.  They  drag  a  cannon.  One 
woman  mounts  it  and  waves  a  sword,  and  the  thousands  pass  on  shouting, 
"  Bread !  bread  I"  They  reach  Versailles — cut  down  the  Guards  in  the 
King's  palace.  Lafayette, commander  of  the  Guards,  is  there;  and  in  their 
madness  the  ruffians  are  ready  to  kill  him.  Not  only  the  King  but  the 
National  Assembly  must  go  to  Paris. 

It  is  a  great  procession  which  enters  the  city — the  King  and  Queen  in 
their  carriage,  regiments  of  soldiers,  sixty  carts  loaded  with  corn,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Assembly  on  horseback  or  in  carriages,  the  rabble  of  ruffians, 
with  guns  on  their  shoulders;  a  great  mob  of  women  brandishing  pikes, 
swords,  pistols,  clubs.  The  one  want,  the  one  word,  "bread,"  had  com- 
pelled the  King  and  the  National  Assembly,  in  their  weakness,  to  yield  to 
the  mob.     Government  had  lost  its  power  ;  the  Commune  was  master. 

The  noblemen  and  their  families,  knowing  that  their  lives  were  in 
danger,  fled  across  the  Rhine  to  find  safety  in  Austria  and  Prussia.  The 
kings  of  those  countries  saw  that  Louis  had  been  shorn  of  his  power,  and 
began  to  fear  that  their  own  subjects  might  rise  against  them. 

Would  not  all  Europe  be  asking  for  written  constitutions  like  that 
adopted  by  the  people  of  the  United  States?  They  determined  to  declare 
Avar  against  France,  march  their  armies  across  the  Rhine,  and  restore  the 


1790.  J 


TEACHING   BY   EXAMPLE. 


old  order  of  tilings.  The  Queen  of  France,  Marie  Antoinette,  laid  a  plan 
for  the  King,  herself,  and  the  children  to  escape  from  Paris,  cross  the 
Rhine,  and  remain  there  till  the  armies  of  Prussia  and  Austria  had  con- 
quered the  French.  They  fled  in  a  coach  ;  but  the  plan  failed.  They  were 
arrested,  brought  back,  and  taken  to  the  Tuileries.  It  was  a  palace,  but 
they  were  prisoners  in  its  gilded  halls. 


WOMEN    MARCHING    TO    VERSAILLES. [FROM    AN    OLD    PRINT.] 


^p 


One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Austrians  and  Prussians,  commanded 
by  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  crossed  the  Rhine  to  invade  France.  The 
duke  issued  a  proclamation.  "I  come,"  he  said,  "to  defend  the  Church 
and  the  throne,  to  restore  to  the  King  the  liberty  and  dignity  which  belong- 
to  him,  and  to  inflict  vengeance  on  all  who  have  dared  to  insult  him." 
The  proclamation,  instead  of  intimidating,  set  France  on  fire. 

"Down  with  the  King!"  shouted  the  people.  The  cry  rung  through  the 
streets  of  Paris.  A  great  crowd  rushed  to  the  Tuileries ;  battered  down 
its  doors;  shot  the  Queen's  Guards  defending  it;  seized  the  King,  Queen, 
and  their  children,  and  hurried  them  to  prison.  The  Swiss  Guards  in  the 
Tuileries  were  shot,  and  there  was  a  terrible  massacre. 


54 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  III. 


ATTACK    OX    THE    TU1LEKIES. [FROM    AN    OLD    PEI.NT.] 

On  came  the  Austrians  to  conquer  France.  England  sent  no  troops ; 
but  she  was  lending  her  influence  and  money  to  help  crush  the  people. 
Higher  than  ever  rose  the  spirit  of  liberty ;  soldiers  enlisted  and  hastened 
north  to  join  General  Dumouriez  to  help  drive  back  the  Austrians. 


1790.] 


TEACHING  BY   EXAMPLE. 


55 


In  Strasbourg  was  a  young  artillery  officer,  Rouget  de  l'Isle.  The 
mayor  of  the  city,  Dietrich,  was  his  friend.  The  times  were  hard ;  the 
mayor  was  poor,  but  there  was  al- 
ways a  place  at  his  table  for  the 
young  officer.  "  We  are  poor — we 
have  only  brown  bread  and  a  bottle 
of  wine  ;  but  here's  to  Liberty,"  said 
Dietrich  one  day  at  dinner.  They 
filled  their  glasses  and  drank  to  Lib- 
erty. The  young  officer  went  to  his 
chamber,  sat  down  to  the  clavichord, 
and  began  to  play  and  sing.  Llis  soul 
was  on  fire  for  liberty  for  France. 
Words  came,  and  with  them  a 
strange,  wild  melody.  lie  did  not 
know  which  came  first — the  music 
or  the  words.  He  sung  and  played, 
and  felt  a  strange  delight.  His  head 
fell  upon  his  breast :  he  was  asleep. 
The  morning  sun  was  shining  in  his 
face  when  he  awoke,  and  the  song 
was  still  stirring  his  soul.     Dietrich 

heard  him  sing  it,  and  called  in  his  friends  to  hear  it.     His  daughter  sat 
down  to  the  clavichord  and  played  while  the  officer  sung : 

"  Ye  sons  of  Freedom,  wake  to  glory. 

Hark !  hark  !  what  myriads  bid  you  rise. 
Your  children,  wives,  and  grandsires  hoary, 

Behold  their  tears  and  hear  their  cries. 
Shall  hateful  tyrants,  mischief  breeding, 

With  hireling  host,  a  ruffian  band, 

Affright  and  desolate  the  land, 
While  Peace  and  Liberty  lie  bleeding  ? 

To  arms  !  to  arms,  ye  brave ! 
The  avenging  sword  unsheath  ! 

March  on  !  march  on !     All  hearts  resolved 
On  victory  or  death  !" 

In  a  few  hours  all  Strasbourg  was  singing  it.  It  went  from  village  to 
village,  city  to  city,  province  to  province. 

In  June,  1792,  fifteen  hundred  men,  wearing  red  caps  and  armed  with 
muskets  and  swords,  marched  from  Marseilles  to  Paris  singing  Rouget  de 
l'lsle's  song,  which  thus  came  to  be  known  as  the  "  Marseillaise,'1  and 


ROUGET    DE    LISLE. 


56 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  III. 


which  above  all  other  songs  ever  written  lias  stirred  the  hearts  of  men. 
But  alas !  in  a  few  months  Dietrich  became  a  victim  of  the  guillotine, 
and  Rouget  de  l'Is-le  was  fleeing  for  his  life.  Great  events  had  taken 
place.  The  Austrians  had  been  defeated  in  a  great  battle  at  Jemappes; 
the  King  and  Queen  had  been  beheaded ;  the  Girondists  carted  off  to  the 
guillotine;  the  Constitution  overthrown;  the  government  seized  by  blood- 
thirsty villains.  More  than  a  million  people  had  perished — -by  the  guillo- 
tine, war,  famine,  and  starvation. 

The  nation  had  waded  through  a  sea  of  blood.     Old  things  had  passed 


FIRST    SINGING    OF    THE    "  ilARSEILLAISE."' 


away  never  to  return.  It  was  the  United  States  teaching  by  example 
which  fired  the  hearts  of  the  French.  Why  did  they  not  succeed  in  estab- 
lishing an  enduring  Republic?  Because  all  free  governments  to  be  endur- 
ing must  be  founded  on  intelligence,  virtue,  morality,  and  a  belief  in  God 
and  immortality. 

The  Pilgrims  of  the  Mayflower  elected  William  Bradford  Governor, 
and  William  Brewster  to  be  their  minister;  they  built  the  school-house 
and  meeting -house  side  by  side,  to  educate  themselves  for  the  present 
and  the  future  life.  Out  of  that  exercise  of  natural  right  in  electing 
their  rulers  and  educating  themselves,  came  the  Republic  of  the  United 
States. 


1792.]  TEACHING  BY  EXAMPLE.  57 

France  had  no  school-houses.  There  were  plenty  of  churches;  but 
through  the  corruption  and  despotism  of  the  Church  there  had  been  a 
dying  out  of  virtue,  morality,  and  religion.  Men  believed  in  nothing.  The 
strongest  ruled.  An  enduring  Republic  under  such  conditions  was  not 
possible.  Out  of  the  Revolution  came  the  one  man  who  could  restore 
order — Napoleon  Bonaparte. 


58 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  IV. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


INFLUENCE   OF  FRANCE   UPON   THE   UNITED   STATES. 


WHEN  the  French  Revolution  begun  ;  when  the  Commons  elected  by 
the  people  to  meet  the  Nobles  and  Clergy  in  convention  asserted 
their  rights;  when  Lafayette  presented  the  Declaration  of  Rights,  copied 
from  the  Declaration  written  by  Thomas  Jefferson  ;  when  the  Constitution 
was  adopted  by  the  people  of  France,  everybody  in  the  United  States  re- 
joiced. France  had  helped  the  United  States  achieve  independence,  and 
the  thought  that  the  French  people  were  overthrowing  the  despotisms  and 
tyrannies  of  the  ages  thrilled  every  American.  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Adams  all  rejoiced.  Lafayette  sent  the  key  of  the  Bastile  to  Washing- 
ton, who  had  it  enclosed  in  a  glass  case  and  himg  in  his  home  at  Mount 
Vernon.  The  Republicans  in  France  had  adopted  cockades  of  red,  white, 
and  blue  as  the  badge  of  liberty,  and  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
adorned  their  hats  with  the  same  colors.  Ladies 
trimmed  their  dresses  with  the  colors  significant 
of  freedom. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  Washington, 
John  Adams,  and  Hamilton  saw  that  things  were 
going  wrong  in  France ;  that  true  liberty  and 
the  best  welfare  of  the  people  could  not  be 
brought  about  by  a  wholesale  cuttino-  off  of 
heads.  The  sober-minded  and  religious  people 
of  the  United  States  were  shocked  by  the  writ- 
ings of  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  and  Thomas  Paine, 
which  were  republished  in  the  United  States. 
Those  writers  were  sincere  lovers  of  liberty. 
They  saw  that  the  bishops  and  priests  lived  scan- 
dalous lives;  that  they  fleeced  the  people;  that 

they  were  hypocrites,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  all  religion  was  a 
cheat.  Voltaire  called  Jesus  Christ  a  wretch.  The  ruffians  who  seized  the 
government  abolished  the  days  of  the  week,  months,  and  the  years.     No 


THOMAS    PAINE. 


1791.]  INFLUENCE   OF  FRANCE   UPON  THE   UNITED   STATES.  59 

longer  would  they  write  Anno  Domini — the  year  of  our  Lord — but  would 
have  all  things  new.  There  was  no  God,  no  hereafter.  Death  was  an 
endless  sleep. 

"Open  the  window.  I  shall  die  to-day,"  said  Mirabeau,  one  of  the 
great  leaders.  "Envelop  me  in  perfumes,  crown  me  with  flowers,  sur- 
round me  with  music,  while  I  sink  to  everlasting  sleep." 

To  the  men  who  had  built  the  meeting  and  school  houses  of  America 
— descendants  of  those  who  had  left  their  homes  in  Old  England  to  brave 
all  the  hardships  of  the  wilderness  that  they  might  be  free  to  worship  God 
— this  life  and  the  life  to  come  were  tremendous  realities;  and  they  stood 
aghast  before  the  loss  of  faith  and  hope  in  God  and  immortality  exhibited 
by  the  French  people. 

On  the  other  hand,  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Samuel  Adams,  through 
their  intense  love  for  liberty  and  their  hatred  of  kings,  thought  of  the 
French  people  as  struggling  only  for  freedom.  When  they  saw  Austria 
and  Prussia  marching  to  crush  France,  and  learned  that  England  was 
urging  on  those  nations,  supplying  them  with  money,  they  wanted  the 
United  States  to  aid  France.  They  claimed  that,  as  the  United  States 
had  achieved  their  independence  through  the  aid  of  France,  the  people 
of  America  were  in  duty  bound  to  take  part  in  the  great  struggle  between 
liberty  and  despotism.  President  Washington  thought  differently.  He 
was  far-sighted.  If  the  United  States  were  to  take  part  there  would  be 
no  end  of  trouble.  He  issued  a  proclamation,  informing  the  people  that 
the  United  States  would  take  no  part  in  European  affairs.  The  procla- 
mation greatly  offended  Jefferson  and  Samuel  Adams.  There  was  hot 
and  sharp  discussion  in  the  newspapers.  The  people  divided  into  two 
parties — the  Federal,  who  sided  with  Washington ;  the  Republican,  who 
sided  with  Jefferson  and  Samuel  Adams.  The  Republicans  of  Boston,  to 
show  their  sympathy  with  the  French,  two  days  before  the  execution  of 
Louis  XVI.,  had  a  grand  banquet  in  State  Street,  where  a  table,  several 
hundred  feet  in  length,  was  laid.  The  school-children  marched  in  pro- 
cession. Samuel  Adams  gave  an  oration.  An  ox  was  roasted,  its  horns 
decorated  with  ribbons.  Loaves  of  bread  were  baked  stamped  with  the 
words  "Liberty  and  Equality."  Hogsheads  of  punch  were  placed  along 
the  street.  There  was  eating  and  drinking,  the  singing  of  songs,  hur- 
rahs for  liberty  for  France;  and  as  the  rum  got  into  their  heads  the  men 
pelted  one  another  with  bread,  and  threw  slices  of  meat  at  the  ladies 
looking  down  from  the  windows.  The  banquet  ended  in  a  scene  which 
all  were  ashamed  of  when  they  became  sober. 

In  1793  Edmond  Charles  Genet  was  sent  to  the  United  States  as  rep- 


60 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  IV. 


STATE    STREET,  BOSTON,   1801. 

resen tative  of  the  French  Republic.  Jefferson  and  the  Democratic  socie- 
ties warmly  welcomed  him.  Genet  was  not  wise  or  prudent.  Before 
presenting  his  credentials  to  Washington  he  purchased  two  vessels  in 
Charleston,  S.  C,  armed  them,  and  sent  them  out  to  capture  the  ships  of 
England.  One  of  them  sailed  up  the  coast,  captured  several  British  ves- 
sels, entered  Delaware  Bay,  and  proceeded  to  Philadelphia,  with  the  cap 
of  liberty  on  the  foretop-mast,  the  British  colors  placed  upside  down,  with 
the  French  flag  flying  above.  Church-bells  rung,  cannon  thundered,  and 
all  the  Democratic  citizens  of  Philadelphia  turned  out  and  hastened  down 
to  the  river-side  to  welcome  the  vessel.  Genet  arrived,  and  sat  down  to 
a  grand  banquet,  with  the  Governor  of  the  State  as  one  of  the  guests. 
There  was  a  "  tree  of  liberty "  on  the  table.  Genet  placed  a  red  cap 
of  liberty  on  his  own  head,  and  then  on  the  head  of  each  guest.  A 
roasted  pig  was  brought  in,  with  the  label,  "  Louis  XVI."  "  Tyrant !" 
shouted  Genet,  seizing  the  carving-knife  and  cutting  off  the  pig's  head. 
The  Republicans  clapped  their  hands  and  shouted  "  Hurrah !" 

Genet  had  insulted  the  United  States.     President  Washington  was 


1791.] 


INFLUENCE   OF  FRANCE   ON  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


61 


not  a  man  to  allow  of  any  insult  to  law  and  order.  The  British  ships 
taken  by  Genet's  ship  were  returned  to  their  owners,  and  the  Chief-justice 
informed  all  grand-jurors  that  they  were  to  take  notice  of  all  such  viola- 
tions of  law.  Genet  had  several 
projects.  Spain  owned  Florida.  He 
intended  to  raise  an  army  to  invade 
it,  and  enlisted  two  thousand  men  in 
Kentucky. 

"Is  the  minister  of  the  French 
Republic  to  be  permitted  to  set  the 
laws  at  defiance  ?"  asked  President 
Washington. 

"No  !"  the  cabinet  replied,  and  a 
letter  was  sent  to  the  French  Gov- 
ernment requesting  the  recall  of  Ge- 
net. 

The  Democratic  Republicans  were 
very  angry  with  Washington,  and  ac- 
cused him  of  wishing  to  establish  a 

GENET.  » 

monarch}7.  They  tried  to  make  it 
appear  that  they  were  the  only  true  lovers  of  liberty.  There  were  bitter 
words  between  the  Democrats  and  the  Federalists.  Old  friends  became 
estranged,  and  would  not  speak  to  each  other.  The  ideas  which  had  al- 
ready divided  the  people  into  two  great  parties  became  more  intense. 
The  Democrats  called  those  who  followed  Washington,  Monarchists,  while 
the  Federalists  said  that  the  Democrats  were  Jacobins,  Anarchists,  Dis- 
unionists.  Men  lost  respect  for  their  fellow- men,  and  forgot  their  old- 
time  courtesy.  They  became  rude  and  disrespectful  in  social  life.  A 
rough  fellow  met  a  minister  one  day. 

"  How  are  you,  priest?"  he  said. 

"  How  are  you,  Democrat  V 

"  How  do  you  know  I  am  a  Democrat  ?" 

"  How  do  you  know  I  am  a  priest  ?" 

"  By  your  dress." 

"And  I  know  that  you  are  a  Democrat  by  your  address!" 

Though  bitter  the  words,  the  people  did  not  lose  their  self-control. 
Gradually  they  saw  that  French  liberty  was  very  different  from  American 
liberty.  A  pamphlet  was  published  in  Philadelphia  with  two  pictures 
showing  the  difference  between  French  and  American  liberty,  which  had 
a  great  effect  upon  the  public. 


62 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  IV. 


There  is  no  turning  back  the  tide  of  human  affairs.  What  is  once 
clone  is  done  for  all  time.  The  example  of  the  United  States  helped  on 
the  French  Revolution,  which,  in  turn,  made  itself  felt  by  every  hearth- 
stone in  the  United  States,  for  weal  or  woe,  through  all  coming  time. 
How  it  affected  the  government  will  be  seen  in  subsequent  chapters. 


THE    CONTRAST. 


1794.]  FORCES   OF   CIVILIZATION.  63 


CHAPTER  V. 

FORCES   OF   CIVILIZATION. 

WHAT  the  future  of  the  new  nation?  What  forces  will  mould  aud 
fashion  it  ?  What  the  character  of  the  people  ?  What  will  they 
do  for  themselves  and  for  the  world? 

John  Endicott,  John  Winthrop,  and  the  men  who  came  with  them  to 
Massachusetts  knew  that  ignorance  is  -weakness,  and  knowledge  power; 
that  to  get  the  most  out  of  life  men  must  have  knowledge ;  that  men  who 
are  ignorant  will  make  mistakes,  blunders,  and  failures.  That  their  chil- 
dren might  not  be  ignorant,  they  established  common  schools.  In  the 
common  school  all  were  on  a  level;  the  poor  boy  had  just  as  good  a 
chance  for  obtaining  an  education  as  the  son  of  the  rich  man.  The  Pil- 
grims and  Puritans  had  common  schools  very  soon  after  they  came  to  this 
country.  The  Provincial  Legislature  of  New  Hampshire  in  1642  ordered 
the  select-men  of  every  town  to  "suffer  no  such  barbarism  in  any  of  their 
families  as  not  to  endeavor  to  teach  their  children  to  read;"  and  in  1647 
they  passed  a  law  that  every  town  containing  one  hundred  families  should 
establish  a  grammar-school. 

In  every  township  a  large  tract  of  land  was  reserved  for  the  benefit 
of  the  schools.  A  law  was  passed  in  Massachusetts  in  1619  requiring 
every  town  to  have  a  school  for  reading  and  writing,  and  every  town  con- 
taining one  hundred  inhabitants  must  maintain  a  grammar-school.  All 
must  learn  to  read,  and  this  was  the  reason  :  "  It  is  the  chief  project 
of  that  old  deluder,  Satan,  to  keep  men  from  a  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures." 

Connecticut,  in  1650,  passed  a  law  requiring  every  town  containing 
fifty  families  to  support  a  grammar-school. 

None  of  the  other  Colonies  had  common  schools.  Governor  Berkeley, 
of  Virginia,  hated  them.  This  was  what  he  wrote  in  1665  :  "  I  thank  God 
there  are  no  free  schools  nor  printing  in  Virginia,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not 
have  them  these  hundred  years ;  for  learning  has  brought  heresy  and  dis- 


61 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  V. 


—    '  ~T. 

5    m  "= 

w    i"'  - 

<      .. 

>>  £  ~  B 

-  15. 13 

— 

— .  <~ 

Eh       O 

H      ■< 

«M 

obedience  and  sects 
into  the  world,  and 
printing  hath  di- 
vulged them,  and  li- 
bels against  the  best 
government.  God 
keep  us  from  both  !" 
Every  town  in 
New  England  was  di- 
vided into  school  dis- 
tricts. The  people 
elected  a  committee 
to  employ  a  teacher. 
The  select -men  ap- 
portioned the  taxes. 
Education  protected 
property,  and  prop- 
erty must  support  ed- 
ucation. Knowledge 
was  power.  It  would 
enable  the  poor  to 
make  their  way  in 
the  world.  It  would 
make  men  virtuous. 
Every  district  had  its 
school  -  house.  The 
benches  and  desks 
were  of  pine.  There 
was  a  great  fireplace 
heaped  with  blazing- 
logs  in  winter,  which 
gave  place  to  a  stove 
when  stoves  came 
into  use.  On  one  side 
was  the  master's  desk, 
upon  a  raised  plat- 
form, where  he  stood, 
ferule  in  hand,  mon- 
arch and  despot  as 
well  as  instructor.    If 


■Mmm 


1794.] 


FORCES   OF   CIVILIZATION. 


67 


a  boy  was  remiss  in  his  lessons  or  disobeyed  orders,  he  was  pretty  sure 
to  smart  for  it;  and  if  he  received  a  whipping  at  school,  he  expected  an- 
other when  he  reached  home.  It  was  the  New  England  idea  of  obedience 
to  law  and  order.  Children  just  learning  their  letters,  roistering  bo}Ts, 
stalwart  young  men,  girls  in  aprons,  fair  maidens  verging  toward  woman- 
hood, all  attended  school,  for  it  was  a  disgrace  not  to  be  able  to  read  or 
write.  The  classes  took  their  places  on  the  floor  when  reading  and  spell- 
ing. Great  and  small  stood  with  their  toes  to  a  crack  in  the  floor — the 
boys  bowing,  the  girls  courtesying,  when  the  master  said  "Attention !" 

A  boy  with  a  patch  on  each  knee,  his  jacket  in  rags,  who  lived  in  a 
cabin,  whose  breakfast  was  potato  and  salt,  and  whose  supper  was  pump- 
kin and  milk,  quite  likely  stood  at  the  head  of  the  class;  while  the  boy 
who  wTore  good  clothes,  without  patch  or  darn,  whose  father  had  great 
barns,  cattle,  and  sheep,  who  was  esquire,  colonel,  representative — the  boy 
who  had  everything  that  money  could  buy — possibly  found  himself  at  the 
foot  of  the  long  line  of  spellers.  All  were  on  a  level.  Money,  position  in 
society,  counted  nothing ;  merit  won.  The  little  children  begun  with  the 
primer;  then  came  the  spelling-book,  reading,  writing,  arithmetic.  The 
committee  and  parents  visited  the  schools  at  their  close,  to  see  how  the 
boys  and  girls  were  getting  on.  Scholars  too  poor  to  purchase  paper 
used  birch-bark  in  learning  to  write.  In  the  long  winter  evenings  they 
sat  by  the  wide-mouthed  chimneys  and  worked  out  problems  in  arithme- 
tic by  the  light  of  blazing  pitch-knots,  using  charred  sticks  for  want  of 
pencils. 

The  common  school  was  a  mighty  force  in 
the  new  civilization.  Many  of  the  boys  in 
rags  made  their  way  through  college,  became 
teachers,  ministers,  law}Ters,  legislators,  and 
governors;  it  fitted  all  to  become  citizens, 
under  a  free  government  based  on  intelli- 
gence and  equal  rights. 

A  Connecticut  boy,  Noah  Webster,  when 
he  had  mastered  arithmetic,  grammar,  and 
Dilworth's  spelling-book,  in  the  common 
school,  studied  Latin,  and  recited  his  lessons 
to  a  young  minister,  Nathan  Perkins.  lie 
made  such  rapid  progress  that  when  he  was 
seventeen  years  old,  in  1775,  he  entered  Yale  College.  News  came  of 
what  was  going  on  at  Lexington,  Concord,  and  Bunker  Hill,  and  the  col- 
lege boys,  with  their  souls  on  tire  for  freedom,  formed  a  company  and 


NOAH    WEBS'l'EK. 


68 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  V. 


chose  Noah  Webster  captain.  When  General  Washington  arrived  at  New 
Haven,  on  his  way  to  Cambridge  to  take  command  of  the  army,  the  boys 
escorted  him  quite- a  distance;  so  Noah  became  one  of  the  "Boys  of  '76;" 
but  when  off  duty,  in  camp,  kept  on  with  his  studies. 

When  the  war  was  over  lie  studied  law  with  his  classmate,  Oliver  Ells- 
worth, whom  President  Washington  appointed  Chief-justice  of  the  United 
States.  But  instead  of  practising  law  Webster  taught  school.  He  did  not 
like  Joseph  Dilworth's  spelling-book,  which  was  an  English  book  ;  he  want- 
ed an  American  book.  He  thought  that  the  American  people  should 
make  their  own  school-books,  and  believed  the  time  would  come  when  the 
United  States  would  have  a  literature  of  its  own. 

The  spelling-book  which  he  made  pleased  him  so  well  that  he  had  it 
printed.  It  begun  with  words  of  one  syllable.  Its  reading  lessons  were 
easy.  They  were  about  the  great  moral  truths  which  are  the  founda- 
tion of  character,  inculcating  thrift,  industry,  morality,  virtue,  and  happi- 
ness. It  contained  fables  of  his  own  making — delightful  reading,  illus- 
trated with  pictures.  The  first 
fable  was  about  a  boy  who 
stole  apples : 

"An  old  man  found  a  rude 
boy  upon  one  of  his  trees  steal- 
ing apples,  and  desired  him  to 
come  down ;  but  the  young 
saucebox  told  him  plainly  he 
would  not.  '  Won't  you  V  said 
the  old  man  ;  '  then  I  will  fetch 
you  down ;'  so  he  pulled  up 
some  tufts  of  grass  and  threw 
at  him  ;  but  this  only  made  the 
youngster  laugh,  to  think  the  old  man  should  pretend  to  beat  him  down 
from  the  tree  with  grass  only.  'Well,  well,' said  the  old  man, 'if  neither 
words  nor  grass  will  do,  I  must  try  what  virtue  there  is  in  stones.'  So  the 
old  man  pelted  him  heartily  with  stones,  which  soon  made  the  young  chap 
hasten  down  from  the  tree,  and  beg  the  old  man's  pardon. 

"Moral. —  If  good  words  and  gentle  means  will  not  reclaim  the 
ivicfced,  they  must  be  dealt  with  in  a  more  severe  manner." 

In  a  short  time  it  was  the  only  spelling-book  in  use.  Millions  of  them 
were  sold.  The  historian  who  would  write  a  true  history  of  the  United 
States  must  not  leave  out  Noah  Webster's  spelling-book.  It  has  been  a 
great  uplifting  force.     Many  of  the  boys  and  girls,  fourscore  years  ago, 


THE    BOY    WHO    STOLE    APPLES. 


1794.] 


FORCES   OF   CIVILIZATION. 


69 


had  time  to  master  little  more  than  the  fables  and  the  reading  lessons  of 
that  book,  but  the}7  never  forgot  the  stories  of  the  boy  who  stole  apples,  of 
the  milkmaid  who  counted  her  chickens  before  they  were  hatched,  and  of 
the  cat  in  the  meal.  The  moral  lessons  which  they  learned  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  character — made  them  noble  men  and  women,  pioneers  of  a  new 
civilization,  and  founders  of  States. 

From  the  creation  of  the  world  down  to  the  close  of  the  last  century 
nearly  all  the  work  of  the  world  had  been  accomplished  by  muscular  labor 
of  men  or  animals;  but  in  England  and  in  the  United  States  men  were 
discovering  that  machinery  might  be  made  to  do  the  work  of  human 
hands,  and  the  energy  of  nature — the  winds,  water- falls,  and  coal — to  take 
the  place  of  the  energy  of  men. 


SPINNING  :    LARGE    WHEEL. 


All  through  the  centuries  down  to  the  year  1530  all  spinning  was  done 
by  the  distaff  and  spindle,  but  in  that  year  a  man  in  Germany  invented  the 
spinning-wheel.  When  the  Protestants  were  driven  out  of  Germany  be- 
cause they  would  not  attend  mass,  some  of  them  fled  to  England,  carrying 
their  spinning-wheels.  Queen  Elizabeth  heard  about  their  wheels,  and 
invited  eight  young  girls  to  spin  before  her.  She  was  much  pleased  and 
made  them  presents,  and  directed  that  laws  should  be  passed  to  encourage 
manufacturing. 


70 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  V. 


In  1767,  while  Jenny  Hargreaves,  of  England,  was  spinning  one  day, 
a  thought  came  to  her  husband,  James.  Why  not  have  several  spindles 
moved  by  one  wheel?     He  carried  out  the  idea — put  a  large  number  of 


SPINNING  :    SMALL    WHEEL. 


spindles  in  a  frame,  and  had  them  all  turned  by  one  wheel.  He  named 
the  new  invention  the  spinning- jenny.  Did  his  fellow- spinners  thank 
him?  On  the  contrary,  a  mob  smashed  them  to  pieces,  saying  that  he 
would  take  the  bread  out  of  their  mouths. 

At  Glasgow,  in  Scotland,  James  Watt  was  thinking  about  steam-en- 
gines. He  had  seen  the  rude  machines  invented  by  Kewcomen  that  were 
in  use  for  pumping  water  from  mines.  The}7  were  great,  clumsy,  expen- 
sive, and  accomplished  very  little.  In  Newcomen's  engine  the  steam 
lifted  the  piston,  which  fell  of  its  own  weight.  On  a  Sunday  afternoon 
James  Watt  "was  walking  in  the  green  fields  just  out  of  Glasgow,  and  a 
great  thought  came  to  him.  When  the  piston  was  up  and  the  cylinder 
full  of  steam,  why  not  have  a  valve  open  and  let  a  little  cold  water  into  the 


1794.] 


FORCES   OF   CIVILIZATION. 


Tl 


HARGREAVES  S    SPINNING- JENNY. 


cylinder,  which  would  instantly  condense  the  steam  ?  And  why  not  at  the 
same  time  have  a  valve  open  to  let  steam  in  on  the  other  side  of  the  piston 
to  force  it  back  again,  and  so  keep  it  going  ? 


ARKWRIGHT  S    SI'INNING-FRAME. 


On  Monday  morning  he  was  hard  at  work  upon  the  new  idea,  and  a 
few  days  later  (in  1781)  his  first  little  engine  was  in  motion. 

There  was  a  man  in  the  United  States  who  was  also  thinking  about  the 


72  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.V. 

use  of  steam — John  Fitch.  lie  was  born  in  Windsor,  Connecticut,  and 
was  so  bright  that,  before  he  was  ten  years  old,  he  could  do  all  the  prob- 
lems in  Hodder's ,  arithmetic.  He  was  so  eager  for  knowledge  that  he 
planted  patch  of  potatoes  and  stayed  at  home  on  training-days  to  hoe  them, 
that  he  might  earn  money  to  buy  a  geography.  His  father's  nearest  neigh- 
bor was  Oliver  Wolcott,  Governor  of  Connecticut,  who  employed  John  to 
help  him  survey  several  lots  of  land,  and  who  was  much  astonished  to  find 
that  the  boy  ten  years  old  knew  quite  as  much  about  arithmetic  as  he 
did.  The  Governor  did  not  treat  him  very  handsomely,  however,  giving 
him  nothing  for  several  days'  work.  John's  father  apprenticed  him  to 
Benjamin  Cheany  to  learn  the  clock-maker's  trade,  where  he  had  poor 
fare — mutton-broth,  with  beans  in  it,  three  times  a  day  for  several  weeks, 
till  the  sight  of  it  sickened  him.  He  had  a  great  many  ups  and  downs  in 
life,  travelling  through  the  country  cleaning  clocks,  buying  old  brass  ket- 
tles, making  brass  buttons  and  selling  them.  During  the  Revolution  he 
worked  for  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  fixing  guns  for  the  soldiers  at  Tren- 
ton. He  went  to  Kentucky,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians,  and  carried 
to  Canada.     When  the  war  was  over  he  went  to  Pennsylvania. 

On  a  Sunday  in  April,  17S5,  Mr.  Fitch  was  limping  to  meeting  to  hear 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Irwin  preach — his  bones  aching  with  rheumatism.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sinton  dashed  past  him  in  a  two-wheeled  chaise.  The  thought  came, 
why  not  get  up  a  machine  that  would  go  without  a  horse  to  draw  it?  He 
never  had  heard  of  a  steam-engine ;  had  no  knowledge  that  Xewcomen 
had  used  steam  for  pumping  water  from  mines,  nor  that  a  man  in  England 
had  conceived  the  idea  of  propelling  a  boat  by  steam. 

Fitch  knew  that  steam  had  a  great  deal  of  expansive  force,  and  in- 
vented a  steam-wagon  for  common  roads,  and  made  a  plan  which  he 
showed  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Irwin,  who  informed  him  that  Xewcomen  had  had 
steam-engines  at  work  for  several  years  in  England. 

John  Fitch  saw  that  the  roads  were  so  bad  that  it  would  be  difficult  to 
use  a  steam-wagon,  but  set  himself  to  build  a  boat.  After  many  trials  and 
disappointments  he  succeeded. 

On  August  27,  17S7,  in  Philadelphia,  the  members  of  the  Convention, 
who  were  just  ready  to  send  out  the  first  written  Constitution  the  world 
had  ever  seen,  stood  on  the  bank  of  the  Delaware  and  beheld  John  Fitch 
gliding  up-stream  in  the  first  practical  steamboat  ever  constructed. 

In  July,  1788,  the  boat  made  its  first  trip  from  Philadelphia  up  the 
river  to  Burlington — the  people  along  the  river  cheering,  women  waving 
their  handkerchiefs,  and  cannon  thundering  a  salute.  Two  years  later,  in 
1790,  John  Fitch's  steamboat  all  through  the  summer  made  regular  trips 


1794.] 


FORCES   OF   CIVILIZATION. 


73 


FITCH  S    STEAMBOAT. 


between  Philadelphia  and  Trenton,  and  sometimes  to  Wilmington,  at  the 
rate  of  three  miles  an  hour,  sailing  in  all  more  than  2500  miles.  He  went 
to  England  and  tried  to  introduce  his  steamboat  into  that  country,  but 
without  success. 

Genius  is  far-sight- 
ed and  prophetic.  It 
sees  what  is  to  be. 
The  world  was  not 
ready  for  the  steam- 
boat ;  but  John  Fitch, 
looking  into  the  fut- 
ure, saw  that  the  time 
would  come  when 
steamships  would  trav- 
erse the  ocean,  and 
glide  to  and  fro  upon 
the  great  rivers  of  the 
West. 

"  The  time  will  come,"  he  said,  "  when  some  more  powerful  man  will 
get  favor  and  riches  by  my  invention,  but  no  one  now  will  believe  that 
poor  John  Fitch  can  do  anything." 

He  went  to  Ohio  to  spend  his  last  days,  and  when  the  shadow  of  death 
was  upon  him  made  this  request:  "  Bury  me  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio, 
that  I  may  lie  where  the  song  of  the  boatmen  will  enliven  the  stillness  of 
my  resting-place,  and  the  music  of  the  engines  soothe  my  spirit." 

He  had  invented  a  new  method  of  locomotion;  but  twenty  years  were 
to  pass  before  it  would  come  into  use. 

On  that  19th  of  April,  1775,  when  the  British  troops  marched  from 
Boston  to  Concord,  and  began  the  Revolutionary  War,  there  was  a  boy 
in  Westborough,  Mass.,  ten  years  old — Eli  Whitney,  who  was  spending  all 
his  spare  time  in  his  father's  shop.  His  father  had  a  turning-lathe,  and 
turned  table-legs,  bedsteads,  and  the  rounds  of  chairs.  Just  at  that  time 
Eli  was  making  a  violin. 

"  I  am  afraid  Eli  will  never  be  good  for  anything  except  to  make 
fiddles,"  said  his  father. 

Eli  was  very  much  taken  up  with  machinery.  His  father  bought  a 
watch.  On  a  Sunday,  when  all  the  rest  of  the  family  were  at  meeting,  Eli 
took  it  apart  and  put  it  together  again,  the  watch  ticking  as  well  as  ever. 

He  paid  his  way  through  Yale  College  by  making  violins  and  walking- 
canes,  and  by  teaching  school. 


74 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  V 


The    college   philosophical  apparatus  was  broken,  and  the  professor 
thought  that  it  must  be  sent  to  Europe  to  be  repaired. 
"  I  think  I  can,  repair  it,"  said  Eli. 

The  professor  gazed  at  him  in  amazement,  and  doubted  his  ability. 
"  If  you  are  willing,  I  should  like  to  try  it." 
It  was  given  into  his  hands,  and  he  made  it  as  good  as  new. 
When  he  had  finished  at  Yale  he  went  to  Georgia,  expecting  to  teach 
school,  travelling  with  Mrs.  Greene,  widow  of  the  brave  general  who  led 
General  Cornwallis  and  the  British  such  a  dance  through  Carolina  during 
the  Revolution.     Mrs.  Greene  lived  a  short  distance  out  from  Savannah, 

at  Mulberry  Grove,  and  invited  Eli 
to  her  house.  She  was  making  tam- 
bour embroidery,  which  required  a 
needle  of  peculiar  shape. 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  better  needle," 
said  Mrs.  Greene. 

"A  better  needle  !  Let  me  see 
it,  please."  He  looked  at  it,  and 
in  a  short  time  made  her  a  present 
of  one  of  a  new  pattern  which  was 
far  better. 

A  party  of  planters  dined  with 
Mrs.  Greene.    Their  talk  was  about, 
cotton.    Manufacture  of  cotton  had 
begun  in  England;  the  people  were 
usingllargreaves's  machines.  Rich- 
ard Arkwright  had  also  made  a  spinning-machine,  and  there  was  a  great 
demand  for  cotton.    The  planters  sent  eight  bagfuls  from  Savannah  in  1784, 
and  in  1788  two  hundred  and  eighty-two  bags,  and  more  was  called  for. 

"  If  we  could  only  separate  the  seed  from  the  cotton  we  could  make 
our  fortunes,  but  it  takes  a  negro  a  day  to  clean  a  pound,"  said  one  of 
the  planters. 

The  negro  slaves  were  having  a  hard  time — obliged  to  work  in  the 
fields  all  day,  digging  with  a  heavy  hoe ;  and  at  night  the  overseer,  whip 
in  hand,  compelled  them  to  pick  the  seeds  from  the  cotton. 

"I  have  a  young  friend  here  who  can  make  you  a  machine  that  will 
do  it.  He  can  do  anything,"  said  Mrs.  Greene,  and  introduced  Mr.  Whit- 
ney. He  listened  to  what  the  planters  had  to  say,  shut  himself  up  in  his 
room,  and  in  a  short  time  had  a  machine  which  would  do  the  work  of 
forty  negroes. 


ELI    WHITNEY. 


1794  ] 


FORCES   OF   CIVILIZATION. 


io 


THE    SKA    ISLANDS. 


The  planters  were 
delighted.  He  patent- 
ed his  invention,  but  the  planters 
made  machines  of  their  own,  cheat- 
ing him  out  of  his  just  dues.  They 
were  rich,  and  he  poor;  and  they 
cared  very  little  for  the  suits  which 
he  brought  against  them. 

More  cotton  was  wanted  in  Eng- 
land. To  raise  it  the  planters  must  have  more  slaves;  and  the  slave-trade 
— which  everybody  expected,  when  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  would 
soon  die  out— became  brisker  than  ever,  furnishing  employment  for  the 
ships  owned  by  the  merchants  of  Boston,  Newport,  and  New  York,  bring- 
ing slaves  from  Africa  and  carrying  cotton  to  England.  Nowhere  else  in 
the  world  could  such  cotton  be  raised  as  grew  on  the  islands  alone;  the 
coast  of  South  Carolina.  The  fibre  was  long,  and  as  soft  as  silk.  The 
lands  which  had  been  regarded  as  almost  worthless  became  very  valuable. 
The  planters  cleared  away  the  great  wide-spreading  trees,  with  the  long 
trails  of  moss  hanging  from   the  branches;   and  the  slaves  soon  trans- 


76 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  V. 


COTTON-GIN. 


formed  the  forest  into  a  landscape  of  far-reaching  fields,  snow-white  in 
the  time  of  the  cotton  harvest. 

It  was  found  that  rice  would  grow  upon  the  lowlands  along  the  coast, 
and  more  negroes  were  needed  to  transform  the  marshes  into  rice-fields. 


HOEING    RICE. 


1794.]  FORCES   OF   CIVILIZATION.  77 

So  it  came  about  that,  through  the  invention  of  the  boy  who  worked 
his  way  through  college  by  making  violins — Eli  Whitney — through  the 
invention  of  James  Hargreaves  in  England,  in  making  a  spinning-jenny, 
that  thousands  of  negroes  were  being  brought  from  Africa,  Virginia  was 
raising  negroes  for  sale,  the  Southern  States  were  becoming  agricultural, 
the  Northern  commercial  and  industrial,  and  forces  unknown  before  were 
springing  up  to  become  mighty  agencies  in  the  future  of  the  nation. 


78  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  f Chap.  VI. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

OLD  things  were  passing  away.  Manners  and  customs  were  changing. 
Three-cornered  cocked-hats,  plum- colored,  crimson,  green,  and  purple 
velvet  coats,  slashed  with  silver  and  gold  ;  embroidered  waist-coats,  buff 
breeches,  long  stockings,  knee -buckles,  powdered  wigs  and  pigtails  —  all 
were  going.  Forces,  silent,  unseen,  far-reaching,  resistless,  were  at  work 
moulding  and  fashioning  social  life  in  the  young  Republic.  Old  forms 
of  government  had  passed  away.  The  written  Constitution — the  rights 
of  the  people  expressed  upon  the  printed  page,  which  all  could  read  and 
comprehend  ;  the  sense  of  freedom,  and  also  the  sense  of  self-imposed  re- 
straint, accountability  to  themselves,  the  thinking -out  of  a  government 
of  the  people,  the  quickening  of  the  intellect  —  brought  about  a  trans- 
formation of  the  social  life  of  the  people. 

There  were  five  distinct  zones  of  social  life  —  the  Yankee,  Dutch, 
Quaker,  Cavalier,  and  Pioneer. 

The  Yankees  lived  in  New  England.  They  were  descendants  of  the 
Pilgrims  and  Puritans.  Many  of  the  Puritans  and  many  of  their  chil- 
dren bore  the  name  of  John.  It  is  a  New  Testament  name,  and  has 
been  a  great  name  in  history.  There  were  so  many  Johns  in  New  Eng- 
land that  their  Dutch  neighbors  in  New  York  called  them  a  nation  of 
Johns,  or  Jankins,  which  in  time  changed  to  Yankee.  The  Dutch  did 
not  like  the  people  of  New  England,  and  there  was  a  sneer  in  the  word ; 
the  New  England  people,  to  show  how  little  they  cared  for  it,  said  it  was 
a  good  word,  that  it  meant  good,  and  they  adopted  it.  If  a  man  had 
a  good  horse,  he  said  it  was  a  Yankee  horse. 

The  men  who  left  home,  friends,  comfort;  who  tore  all  dear  old  things 
up  by  the  roots  rather  than  submit  to  the  granny  of  bishops  and  the  King, 
or  yield  their  idea  of  right,  were  men  of  intense  convictions.  Life  was 
real:  it  meant  a  great  deal.  Work  Avas  a  duty.  Life  was  such  a  tremen- 
dous reality  that  there  was  no  time  for  play.  It  meant  so  much  that 
every  power  which  men  possess  must  be  trained  to  honor  and  glorify 
God.     Everybody  must  go  to  meeting  on  Sunday.     Everybody  must  be 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL   LIFE   IN  NEW   ENGLAND. 


79 


educated.  So  the  meeting-house  and  school -house  rose  side  by  side  all 
over  New  England. 

In  England,  in  the  time  of  James,  a  law  had  been  passed  compelling 
everybody  to  attend  church,  or  pay  a  fine. 

The  settlers  of  Massachusetts  and  Virginia  also  passed  laws  compelling 
people  to  attend  church.  The  New  England  people  called  it  attending 
meeting ;  the  place  where  they  met  was  a  "  meeting-house  "  and  not  a 
church.     The  church  was  not  the  house,  but  a  body  of  believers. 


WIDE-AWAKE    DEACON. 


On  Sunday  people  put  on  their  best  clothes.  Those  who  owned  horses 
rode  on  horseback — the  wife  on  a  pillion  behind  her  husband,  carrying  a 
baby  in  her  arms,  with  a  small  boy  on  the  rump  of  the  horse,  holding  on 
by  the  crupper.  They  dismounted  at  the  horse-block  in  front  of  the  meet- 
ing-house. Those  who  walked  went  barefoot  in  summer,  and  carried 
their  stockings  and  shoes,  putting  them  on  before  reaching  the  meet- 
ing-house. They  sat  in  high-backed  pews.  When  the  minister  entered 
the  congregation  stood  while  he  went  up  the  stairs  to  the  pulpit.  The 
prayers  were  long  and  the  sermons  still  longer.     The  deacons  sat  in  the 


80 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VI. 


most  honorable  seats.  They  were  good  men.  It  was  their  duty 'to  keep 
awake,  and  they  looked  hard  at  anybody  who  dropped  off  to  sleep  daring 
the  sermon. 

Those  of  the  congregation  who  could  sing  sat  in  the  singers'  seats. 
The  leader  gave  out  the  tune  and  the  pitch,  the  singers  sounded  their 
parts — bass,  tenor,  alto,  and  treble  fa-la-sol-fa  —  singing  a  fuguing  tune, 
one  part  following  another,  till  all  seemed  to  be  lost  in  the  labyrinth  of 
melody,  but  coming  out  right  at  last. 


PITCHING    THE    TUNE. 


During  the  nooning  in  summer  the  people  ate  their  luncheon  of  dough- 
nuts, cheese,  cucumbers,  and  gingerbread,  standing  around  the  door  or  sit- 
ting beneath  the  trees  in  front  of  the  meeting-house.  The  boys  hunted 
birds'-nests  or  made  a  foray  into  the  orchards  after  apples.  In  winter 
they  went  into  the  neighbors'  houses  and  warmed  themselves,  for  there 
were  no  stoves  in  the  meeting-houses.  The  women  carried  tin  foot-stoves, 
which  they  filled  with  coals  at  the  neighboring  fires.     The  men  and  boys 


THE    LONG    SERMON. 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 


thumped  their  feet  to  keep  them  from  freezing,  and  everybody  was  glad 
when  the  minister  pronounced  the  benediction.  Those  who  lived  far  from 
meeting  were  obliged  to  start  early  in  the  morning,  and  during  the  short 
days  of  winter  the  sun  would  be  sinking  below  the  western  hills  when 
they  reached  homo. 

If  the  tire  had  gone  out  on  the  hearth  they  rekindled  it  with  a  flint, 
steel,  and  tinder,  or  by  flashing  powder  in  the  old  gun  which  had  done 
service  at  Bunker  Hill  or  Saratoga. 

On  Sunday  evening  the  family  sat  around  the  fire  and  recited  the 
catechism  and  the  last  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes.  The  small  children  re- 
peated Dr.  Watts's  hymn  against  idleness  and  mischief: 

"  How  cloth  the  little  busy  bee 

Improve  each  shining  hour, 
And  gather  honey  all  the  day 

From  every  opening  flower ! 

*  &  *  * 

In  works  of  labor  or  of  skill, 

I  would  be  busy  too  ; 
For  Satan  finds  some  mischief  still 

For  idle  hands  to  do." 


I  LL    GIVE    IT    TO    YOl'  ! 


84 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VI. 


Life  was  such  a  tremendous  reality  there  was  no  time  for  play — no 
card-playing  or  games.  If  the  boys  stole  away  into  the  barn  to  play  when 
they  ought  to  be  at  work,  they  were  pretty  sure  of  getting  a  whack  from  a 
switch  when  they  least  expected  it.  In  winter,  when  there  was  little  work 
to  be  done,  they  could  coast  upon  the  hill-sides,  or  glide  over  the  ice  upon 
the  frozen  ponds,  having  such  enjoyment  as  the  boj's  of  the  more  southern 
States  never  dreamed  of.  In  the  long  winter  evenings  they  studied  their 
arithmetic  and  grammar  by  the  light  of  the  pitch-knot  blazing  on  the 
hearth. 

"  And  for  the  winter  fireside  meet, 
Between  the  andirons  straddling  feet, 
The  mug  of  cider  simmered  slow, 
The  apples  sputtered  in  a  row. 
And  close  at  hand  the  basket  stood, 
With  nuts  from  brown  October's  wood." 


A    NEW    ENGLAND    KITCHEN. 


They  played  "Blind-man's-buff"  and  "  Come,  Philander,  let  us  be 
a-marching,"  and  "  Roast  beef  behind  your  back ;"  but  there  must  be  no 
dancing — that  was  an  invention  of  the  devil.  When  oyster-suppers  came 
into  fashion  the  old  folks  opposed  them.  One  woman  said  oysters  would 
lead  to  dancing. 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL  LIFE   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 


85 


In  March,  when  the  sun 
was  swelling  the  buds  of  the 
maples,  came  the  time  for 
making  sugar.  The  farmers 
bored  holes  in  the  trees,  in- 
serted spouts,  caught  the  sap 
in  buckets  and  troughs  ;  hung 
their  great  kettles  upon  a  pole, 
kindled  fires,  boiling  the  sap 
until  it  became  thick,  thus  ob- 
taining their  molasses  and 
sugar.  Friends  and  neighbors 
were  invited  to  a  "sugaring 
off."  Then  the  woods  rung 
with  merry  laughter. 

When  spring  came — when 
the  farmer  could  drive  his 
team  afield  —  there  was  no 
time  for  play.  There  was  the 
ploughing,  sowing,  planting, 
hoeing  of  corn  and  potatoes, 
washing  and  shearing  of 
sheep.  In  June  the  wood- 
man's axe  was  ringing,  felling  the  forest-trees,  that  they  might  dry  during 
the  hot  summer  days,  and  be  ready  for  burning  in  August.  In  July  came 
the  haying  season.  In  August  was  the  wheat  harvest,  cutting  the  ripened 
grain  with  the  sickle,  binding  it  into  sheaves  to  be  threshed  in  winter. 
Then  came  the  season  for  burning  the  trees  felled  in  June.  Tall  columns 
of  smoke  rose  heavenward,  flames  illumined  the  midnight  sky ;  the  sun 


r^iirV 


SUGAR-TREES. 


86 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VI. 


was  obscured.  There  was  a  fragrance  of  burning  timber  in  the  air.  In 
October  was  the  gathering  of  apples — the  making  of  cider;  the  corn  liar- 
vest,  with  husking-parties — young  men  and  maidens  gathering  in  the  barns, 
seated  on  milking-stools  or   chairs,  stripping  the  husks  from  the  golden 


BOILING    SAP. 


ears,  the  finding  of  a  red  ear  entitling  the  finder  to  the  privilege  of  kissing 
the  prettiest  girl  in  the  company.  When  the  husking  was  over  the  com- 
pany sat  down  to  a  supper  of  baked  beans,  Indian-pudding,  dough-nuts, 
apple  and  pumpkin  pie,  gingerbread  and  cakes,  with  tea,  coffee,  and  cider. 
On  the  Fourth  of  July  there  was  the  firing  of  guns,  ringing  of  bells,  din- 
ners and  speeches ;  glowing  accounts  of  what  Washington,  Adams,  Jeffer- 
son, and  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  had  accomplished;  the  drinking  of 
punch,  eggnog,  and  rum. 

Muster  came  in  September  —  the  mustering  of  all  the  companies  of 
soldiers  in  a  regiment  or  brigade,  for  a  general  training.  At  sunrise  the 
drums  were  beating.  Each  company  strove  to  be  first  on  parade — to  go 
through  its  manoeuvres  in  presence  of  an  admiring  crowd  of  spectators — 
the  fifes  playing  "Yankee  Doodle"  and  "On  the  Road  to  Boston'1 — 
tunes  which  had  stirred  the  hearts  of  the  soldiers  dnriiiff  the  Revolution. 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 


87 


All  men  between  the  ages 
of  eighteen  and  forty-live 
were  soldiers.  The  light 
infantry,  artillery,  and  ri- 
flemen wore  uniforms  — 
white  pantaloons,  bine 
coats,  with  red  facings  and 
bright  buttons  ;  caps  like  a 
half -moon  in  shape,  with 
tall  white  plumes  tipped 
with  red.  The  infantry  had 
no  uniforms.  Lean  and 
fat  men  alike  stood  in  the 
ranks.  The  general  re- 
viewed them.  In  the  af- 
ternoon there  was  a  sham 
fight — muskets  rattling  and 
cannon  thundering  —  men, 
women,  and  children  from 
all  the  country  round  look- 
ing on,  feasting  themselves 
with  gingerbread,  and  drink- 
ing rum-punch. 

Thanksgiving  —  on  a 
Thursday  in  November  — 
was  the  great  day  of  the 
year  appointed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor. The  harvest  was 
secured,  corn-husking  over, 
the  potatoes  were  in  the 
cellar,  the  apples  gathered, 
and  the  cider  made.  The 
wheat  was  on  a  scaffold  in 
the  barn  waiting  the  pound- 
ing of  the  flail ;  the  flax  had 
been  spread  upon  the  green- 
sward to  rot  during  the  rains 
.of  autumn  ;  it  had  been 
bound  in  bundles  ready  for 
the    breaking;    durins;    the 


88 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VI. 


winter  days.  The  sheep  and  cattle  were  home  from  the  pastures.  Tur- 
keys and  chickens  had  been  fattening  through  the  fall.  Such  abundance 
called  for  gladness  of  heart  and  thanksgiving  to  God. 


BUYING    TURKEYS 


The  preceding  days  were  days  of  preparation.  Turkeys  and  chickens 
were  killed  and  sent  to  market.  There  was  the  chopping  of  meat  and 
apples  for  mince -pies,  and  making  of  plum -pudding,  cakes,  tarts,  and 
sauces.  On  Thanksgiving  morning  the  minister  preached  a  sermon,  and 
the  singers  sung  a  joyful  anthem.  Children  and  grandchildren  came  to 
the  old  home  to  eat  dinner  with  grandfather  and  grandmother.  Fires 
were  kindled  in  the  parlor,  the  shutters  of  the  windows  which  had  been 
closed  during  the  year  were  thrown  back  to  let  the  sunlight  in  upon  the 
high-backed  chairs,  the  home-spun  carpet,  the  decanters  of  cut  glass  on  the 
sideboard,  filled  with  Port  and  Madeira  wine,  Jamaica  and  New  England 
rum.  When  the  meeting  was  over  the  people  went  to  their  dinner,  every- 
body eating  and  drinking  all  they  could;  and  when  the  dinner  was  over 
the  old  folks  talked  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  great  world,  while  the 
young  folks  romped  in  the  kitchen,  playing  all  the  games  they  could  think 
of.  eating  pop-corn  and  apples,  and  drinking  their  fill  of  cider — getting 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL   LIFE   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 


S9 


the  most  they  could  out  of  Thanksgiving,  knowing  that  the  winter  school 
would  begin  on  the  following  Monday,  when  they  must  take  up  their 
studies,  and  that  there  would  be  no  more  holidays  till  the  Fourth  of  July. 
Everybody  wore  home-spun  clothing.  The  girls,  like  the  boys,  had  no 
idle  hours,  for  there  was  flax  to  comb  and  spin,  to  be  woven  into  sheets, 
pillow-cases,  and  table-cloths.  Xo  girl  could  think  of  getting  married 
till  she  had  all  these  for  house-keeping.  There  was  the  carding  of  wool 
by  hand  into  rolls,  spinning  them  on  a  large  wheel,  walking  to  and  fro 
through  the  long  and  weary  days,  turning  the  wheel  with  one  hand  and 
holding  the  thread  with  the  other ;  then  the  yarn  was  reeled  into  skeins, 
dyed  and  washed,  and  put  upon  the  warping- bars  and  into  the  loom ;  then 
each  thread  of  the  warp  must  be  drawn    through  the  "harness"  and 


■  ""',',■ 


•■■■■;■     "|        ;.vM*$l.,. 


through  the  "reed;"  then  the  shuttle  was  thrown  backward  and  forward, 
and  the  thread  beaten  in  by  the  "lathe."  There  was  the  weaving  of 
linen  for  sheets,  pillow-cases,  towels,  table-cloths,  and  under-clothing,  of 
tow  and  wool;  the  making  of  "linsey-woolsey"  for  gowns,  or  of  all-wool 


90 


BUILDING   THE   XATIOX. 


[Chap.  VI. 


cloth  for  men's  garments.  From  early  morning  till  the  fire  burnt  low 
on  the  hearth  mother  and  daughter  were  at  work  wielding  the  hand- 
cards,  throwing  the  shuttle,  or  whirling  the  wheel.  When  the  carding, 
spinning,  dyeing,  and  weaving  were  done  there  was  still  more  to  do — the 
making  of  quilts,  coverlets,  and  sheets ;  for  no  girl  could  think  of  being 
married  till  she  had  a  bountiful  supply. 


SPEAKING    IX    TOWN-MEETING. 


The  people  of  Xew  England  governed  themselves  more  directly  than 
the  people  of  the  other  States — holding  town-meetings,  electing  a  mod- 
erator to  preside,  a  clerk  to  keep  the  town  records,  and  three  select-men, 
who  assessed  taxes,  cared  for  the  poor,  and  kept  roads  and  bridges  in  or- 
der. In  town-meeting  every  man  conld  speak  and  vote.  It  was  a  parlia- 
ment, a  congress  where  all  the  affairs  of  the  town  were  discussed  and  set- 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 


91 


tied.  The  majority  ruled.  It  was  the  people  ruling  themselves — the 
simplest  and  best  government  ever  attained  by  the  human  race. 

In  the  New  England  States  the  Fourth  of  July  was  celebrated  as  in 
no  other  section  of  the  country.  At  sunrise  there  was  firing  of  cannon 
and  ringing  of  bells.  Later  in  the  day  there  was  mustering  of  soldiers, 
picnics,  orations,  rehearsing  the  patriotism  and  heroism  of  the  men  who 
achieved  the  independence  of  the  nation,  drinking  of  beer,  lemonade,  and 
rum-punch.  It  was  the  nation's  birthday,  and  the  beginning  of  a  new 
order  of  things  in  human  government.  It  was  felt  that  such  a  day  ought 
to  be  forever  kept  in  remembrance.  President  John  Adams  said  that  it 
ought  ever  to  be  celebrated,  and  the  people  agreed  with  him.  Old  and 
young — men,  women,  and  children — all  participating  in  the  enjoyments, 
to  keep  alive  their  love  of  country. 

The  Yankees  were  restless.     Their  beliefs,  their  sense   of  obligation., 


THE    FOURTH    OF    JULY. 


made  them  so.  To  accomplish  the  great  end  of  life — to  make  money,  to 
settle  new  lands,  build  school  and  meeting  houses,  and  convert  the  world 
to  their  ideas  of  liberty,  government,  and  religion — made  them  the  most 
restless  people  in  the  world.  The  soil  was  hard  and  stony.  The  ocean 
off  Newfoundland  and  Labrador  swarmed  with  fish,  and  fleets  of  small 
vessels  sailed  from  Cape  Ann  and  Cape  Cod  for  the  Northern  seas.     Great 


92  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  VI. 

ships  sailed  far  away  to  the  icebergs  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  or  southward 
round  Cape  Horn  and  out  upon  the  Pacific,  manned  by  the  huntsmen  of 
the  sea,  to  capture  the  monsters  of  the  deep.  Long  voyages  they  were. 
When  the  crews  bade  their  friends  farewell  they  knew  that  it  would  be 
three  years  before  they  would  drop  anchor  again  in  the  home  port.  Off 
the  shores  of  Greenland,  or  beyond  Behring  Strait,  or  southward  beneath 
the  Southern  Cross  of  the  midnight  sides,  the  sturdy  whaleman  .of  Nan- 
tucket and  New  Bedford,  keeping  keenest  watch  from  the  swaying  top- 
mast, shouted  to  his  comrades  upon  the  deck,  "  There  she  blows !"  Then 
came  the  lowering  of  the  boats,  the  chase,  the  throwing  of  lance  and 
harpoon,  the  death-struggle  of  the  monster,  or  the  crushing  of  the  boats 
between  its  jaws,  or  by  a  stroke  of  its  tail. 

To  India,  to  China,  to  every  port  on  the  globe,  sailed  the  ships  of  the 
merchants,  manned  by  the  hardy  sailors. 

The  Yankees  made  clocks,  tin  pans,  wash-boards,  pails,  and  brooms, 
which  they  peddled  through  the  country,  gathering  up  rags,  hogs'  bris- 
tles, old  pewter,  and  making  money  out  of  the  odds  and  ends  of  things. 
They  crossed  the  Hudson  and  made  the  Knickerbockers  of  Albany  and 
Schenectady  uncomfortable  with  their  ideas  and  notions.  They  swarmed 
into  Vermont  in  such  numbers  that,  in  1791,  it  became  a  State.  They 
crossed  the  Alleghanies  and  took  possession  of  Ohio,  building  school- 
houses. and  churches,  making  their  power  and  influence  felt  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Mississippi ;  while  on  the  sea  they  were  carrying  the'  stars 
and  stripes  to  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL  LIFE   IN  OTHEK  STATES. 


93 


CHAPTER  VII 

SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   OTHER   STATES. 

THE  Knickerbockers  lived  in  New  York.  In  Holland  a  "  knicker  "  is 
a  small  clay  ball,  baked  and  oiled,  which  the  boys  use  instead  of  mar- 
bles, for  Holland  has  no  marble  -  quarries.  The  people  who  make  and 
bake  the  balls  are  called  Tcniclcerbock&n.     The  Knickerbockers  of  New 


ROOM  IN  A  NEW  YORK  DUTCH  HOME. 


York  lived  in  steep-roofed  houses,  with  porches  by  the  doors,  where  the 
burghers  sat  and  smoked  their  pipes.  Upon  the  doors  were  great  brass 
knockers,  ornamented  with  griffins'  heads.  The  brick  Avails  were  thick 
and  strong,  the  kitchens  large,  with  wide-mouthed  fireplaces. 


94  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  VII- 

The  Dutch  were  patient,  slow-going,  honest,  industrious,  and  thrifty. 
They  came  from  a  race  that  had  built  great  dykes  out  into  the  ocean  in 
Holland,  enclosing  a  portion  of  the  sea,  erected  wind -mills,  pumped  out 
the  water,  transforming  the  sea  into  a  garden.  They  were  the  men  who, 
to  get  rid  of  the  Spaniards,  let  the  sea  in  upon  the  land.  [See  "  Story 
of  Liberty."] 

The  houses  of  the  Dutch  farmers  along  the  Hudson  and  up  the  Mo- 
hawk were  usually  of  one  story,  with  low  roof  and  great  chimneys. 
Upon  every  ridge-pole  was  a  weather-cock.  The  water-spouts  projected 
far  beyond  the  stoop.  The  houses  of  their  ancestors  in  Holland  were 
built  with  such  spouts  to  carry  the  rain  into  the  canals,  and  the  settlers 
constructed  theirs  after  the  same  pattern,  although  there  were  no  canals 
to  receive  the  water. 

The  housewives  kept  the  kitchen  neat  and  tidy,  scrubbing  the  floors, 
sprinkling  them  with  white  sand,  and  in  summer  filling  the  great  fireplaces 
with  pine  boughs.  In  the  cellar  were  barrels  of  salted  beef  and  pork, 
bins  of  potatoes,  beets,  parsnips,  and  carrots.  Every  farmer  had  a  smoke- 
house, where  he  smoked  his  bacon  ;  a  cabbage  garden,  and  tobacco-patch, 
raising  his  own  tobacco.  With  plenty  to  eat  and  drink,  the  farmer  lived 
peacefully  and  happily,  knowing  little  and  caring  less  for  what  was  go- 
ing on  in  the  world.  The  Yankees  might  be  ever  on  the  move,  but  he 
would  stay  at  home,  eat  at  his  own  table,  sleep  in  his  own  bed,  toss  his 
baby  on  his  knees,  singing  the  song  sung  to  his  fathers  in  their  child- 
hood,  to  him  when  he  was  a  baby  : 

"  Trip  a  troup  a  tronjes, 
De  varkens  in  de  boonjes, 
De  krojes  in  de  klaver, 
De  poorden  in  de  haver, 
De  kalf  es  in  de  long  grass, 
De  renjes  in  de  water  plass ; 
Se  groot  myn  klein  poppetje  vas." 

That  is,  the  little  baby  on  his  knees  was  as  happy  as  a  little  pig  among 
the  beans,  as  the  cows  up  to  their  eyes  in  clover,  the  horses  eating  oats, 
the  calves  in  the  long  grass,  as  the  ducks  swimming  in  the  water. 

In  the  farm-house  the  family  sat  down  to  dinner  around  a  solid  oak 
table,  and  ate  from  wooden  plates,  with  strings  of  dried  apples,  pumpkins, 
onions,  and  squashes  hanging  from  the  beams  above  them.  The  rich 
merchants  in  Albany  and  New  York  sat  down  at  mahogany  tables.  They 
had  platters  of  solid  silver,  and  poured  their  liquors  from  clear  cut-glass 
decanters.     They  had  hogsheads  of  good  old  wine  in  their  cellars,  and 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   OTHER   STATES. 


95 


entertained  their  friends  with  princely  hospitality.  They  wore  cherry  or 
plum  colored  velvet  coats,  with  wide  skirts  and  cuffs,  trimmed  with  gold 
and  silver  lace.  They  wore  their  hair  in  queues.  After  dinner  they 
smoked  their  long-stemmed  pipes,  and  talked  of  their  ventures  in  trade. 
Their  wives  wore  rich  silk  and  velvet  gowns,  and  costly  lace,  woven  by 
the  lace-workers  of  Antwerp. 

The  Knickerbockers  had  five  holidays — Christmas,  New-year,  Pinkster, 
Whitsuntide,  and  St.  Nicholas.  On  New-year  morning  the  men  and  boys 
fired  guns,  and  spent  the  day  in  calling  upon  their  friends,  drinking  punch, 
and  eating  pretzels  and  cakes — drinking  so  often  that  before  night  nearly 
everybody  had  a  top-heavy  head,  confused  ideas,  and  was  weak  in  the  legs. 

February  14  was  "  Vroumen-dagh,"  or  St.  Valentine's-day,  when  the 
girls  went  through  the  streets  with  knotted  whips,  giving  the  young  men 
and  boys  a  whack.  In  June  was  "  Pinkster,"  when  the  young  people  wTent 
into  the  woods  and  fields  and  held  a  picnic — gathering  flowers,  dancing 
beneath  the  trees,  eating  dough-nuts  and  cheese,  and  drinking  home-made 


AFTER    DINNER. 


beer.  The  Dutch  women  worked  bard  from  morning  till  night,  rubbing 
and  scrubbing,  spinning  and  weaving,  baking  and  brewing.  The  Knick- 
erbockers slept  with  a  feather-bed  above  them  as  well  as  one  beneath 
them.  No  Dutch  maiden  thought  of  marriage  till  she  had  two  beds  and 
a  pile  of  linen  sheets  and  pillow-cases. 


96 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  VII. 


'iiiiiiil  llllliilllliMiii 


DITCH    COUKTINU. 


On  Sunday  evening's  lovers  called  upon  their  sweethearts.  When  the 
maidens  had  their  outfit  complete  their  lovers  obtained  from  the  Gover- 
nor a  license  to  be  married.  The  dominie  came  and  married  them.  The 
day  after  the  wedding  everybody  came  to  shake  hands  with  the  bride  and 
bridegroom,  and  to  eat  pies,  cakes,  dough-nuts,  and  cheese,  and  drink  rum, 
brandy-schnapps,  port,  punch,  and  Madeira. 

At  funerals  there  was  much  eating  and  drinking.  Scarfs  and  gloves 
were  given  to  all  the  deceased's  friends,  and  it  was  astonishing  the  num- 
ber of  friends  some  had  !  They  sat  around  the  coffin,  and  smoked  their 
pipes  and  drank  wine.  The  minister  drank  a  glass,  offered  prayer,  then 
drank  another  glass.  Everybody  joined  in  the  procession  to  the  grave, 
marching  with  slow  steps,  and  came  back  to  the  house  to  eat  and  drink. 
What  eating,  and  drinking,  and  carousing  when  Lucas  Wyngaard,  of  Al- 
bany, died,  in  1756!  After  the  burial  the  mourners  went  back  to  the 
house,  sat  up  all  night  smoking,  eating,  and  drinking  a  whole  pipe  of  wine, 
besides  rum,  brandy,  gin,  and  cider,  breaking  all  the  glasses  and  decanters, 
smashing  chairs  and  tables,  making  a  bonfire  of  their  scarfs,  dancing  and 
singing  songs,  and  most  of  them  rolling  dead-drunk  upon  the  floor ! 


1790-1800.]  SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   OTHER   STATES.  97 

The  Dutch  farmers  of  New  York  were  slow  about  their  work.  They 
were  not,  like  the  people  of  New  England,  always  in  a  hurry.  They  rose 
early  in  the  morning.  The  women  and  girls  milked  the  cows,  churned 
butter,  and  made  cheese,  and  when  breakfast  was  over  set  the  spinning- 
wheel  to  humming,  or  helped  the  men  hoe  the  cabbages  or  swing  the 
scythe,  or  raked  hay  in  the  meadows.  Their  arms  were  brown,  their 
brows  sunburnt,  but  they  had  honest  faces.  They  made  good  wives,  kept 
their  houses  neat  and  trim,  scrubbing  the  floors  and  sprinkling  them  with 
white  sand. 

They  went  to  church  on  Sunday,  and  listened  to  long  sermons  from 
the  dominie,  as  the  minister  was  called.  On  New-year's-eve  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  family  stood  in  front  of  the  fire  and  sung  a  hymn  to  St. 
Nicholas. 

The  New  Englanders  were  ever  on  the  move  going  somewhere ;  but 
the  Dutch  farmer  wanted  to  remain  at  home,  and  there  enjoy  his  beer, 
sausages,  pretzels,  cheese,  and  long-stemmed  pipe,  which  he  smoked  after 
breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper  on  the  bench  beneath  the  porch  of  his 
humble  home. 

They  were  honest,  industrious,  and  contented.  They  could  not  under- 
stand how  it  was  that  Yankee  manners,  customs,  and  ways  of  doing  things 
should  crowd  out  the  ideas,  maimers,  and  customs  which  they  had  inher- 
ited from  their  fathers. 

A  Yankee  moved  into  Albany  in  1789.  In  a  few  years  enough  had 
joined  him  to  elect  one  of  their  number  mayor.  They  passed  an  ordi- 
nance that  no  eave- spout  should  project  into  the  street.  The  Yankee 
sheriff  came  with  ladder  and  saw  to  cut  them  off.  The  Dutch  women 
ran  out  with  their  brooms  to  give  him  battle.  They  scolded  in  Dutch 
and  shook  their  brooms  at  him,  but  he  made  short  work  with  the  spouts. 
It  was  the  going  ont  of  the  old,  the  coming  in  of  a  new,  order  of  things 
among  the  Knickerbockers. 

The  first  settlers  of  New  Jersey  were  from  Sweden  and  Holland,  but 
a  company  of  Yankees  took  possession  of  Newark.  Presbyterians  came 
from  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  Quakers  from  New  England,  and  crowded 
out  the  Dutch. 

"  The  people  of  New  Jersey  are  a  very  rustical  people,  and  deficient 
in  learning,"  wrote  Governor  Belchor.  That  was  before  the  Revolution. 
He  meant  to  say  that  they  were  farmers.  There  were  no  large  towns. 
There  was  a  college  at  Princeton,  but  not  many  schools  in  the  State. 

The  people  lived  in  small  farm-houses.  They  were  industrious,  thrifty, 
good-natured,  and  kind-hearted.     They  passed  laws  against  theatres,  and 

7 


98 


■BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VII. 


would  have  no  cock  or  dog  fighting,  no  travelling  on  Sunday,  dancing  or 
playing  of  cards.  To  them  Christmas  was  like  all  other  days.  They 
worked  hard  in  summer,  but  in  winter  found  their  pleasure  in  visiting 
their  friends — each  housewife  showing  her  butter  and  cheese,  the  cloth  she 
had  woven,  and  at  supper  setting  her  table  with  the  whitest  bread,  sweetest 


SINGING    A    HYMN    TO    ST.   NICHOLAS. 


butter,  raspberry -jam,  currant- jelly,  cherry  -  sauce,  blackberry,  pear,  and 
peach  preserves. 

The  people  had  no  great  love  for  holidays — Christmas  was  a  relic  of 
Popery;  Thanksgiving,  dear  to  the  people  of  New  England,  had  no  place 
in  their  affections.  Scarcely  a  ripple  disturbed  the  calm  and  almost 
motionless  current  of  social  life. 

The  first  settlers  of  Pennsylvania  were,  like  those  of  New  Jersey,  from 
Sweden  and  Holland,  followed  by  the  men  and  women  who  wore  broad- 
brimmed  hats  and  plain  bonnets — the  Quakers,  who  came  with  William 
Penn.  People  from  Wales,  from  Scotland,  and  Ireland — Presbyterians, 
and  other  religious  people  who  called  themselves  Dunkards — made  Penn- 
sylvania their  home.     So  it  came  about  that  on  market-day  in  Philadelphia 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   OTHEK   STATES. 


99 


one  might  hear  several  languages  and  dialects  spoken  by  the  country  men 
and  women  who  came  in  with  their  eggs,  chickens,  butter,  and  cheese. 

Philadelphia  was  the  capital  of  the  nation.     The  houses  were  built  of 

brick,  with  balconies  or 
:  ««JiiJiiiiL.jiJBMu—  porches.  The  houses  of 
the  wealthy  citizens  were 
surrounded  with  gardens 
and  orchards,  where  on 
calm  summer  evenings 
garden-parties  were  given 
to  President  Washington 
and  the  members  of  Con- 
gress, and  gentlemen  of 
Philadelphia,  who  carried 
gold  -  headed  canes  and 
gold  snuffboxes,  and  wore 


A    GARDKN-PARTY. 


100 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VII. 


gold-laced  cocked-hats.  Xegro  servants  in  livery  waited  upon  the  guests, 
serving  them  with  cake  and  coffee,  in  porcelain  cnps,  drawn  from  silver 
urns. 

Many  of  the  settlers  of  Pennsylvania 
were  poor  people  who  sold  their  services 
for  four  years  to  the  Quaker  farmers,  to 
pay  for  their  passage,  food,  and  clothing. 
If  they  ran  away  and  were  caught,  they 
were  tied  up  to  the  whipping -post  and 
flogged.  If  any  kind-hearted  friend  con- 
cealed a  runaway  servant,  he  was 
brought  before  the  justice  of 
the  peace  and  fined. 

The  farmers  had  ex- 
cellent gardens,  and  raised 
cabbages,  squashes, 
onions,  cucumbers, 
and  in  one  corner 
their  daughters  sow- 
ed beds  of  thyme 
and  roses  and  holly- 
hocks. 

They  kept  bees,  . 
which  buzzed  among 
the  flowers  and  filled 
their  hives  with  hon- 
ey, They  had  flocks 
of  gabbling  geese, 
ducks,  and  turkeys. 
They    sat    down    to 

bountiful  tables.  The  country  people  were  not  very  intelligent.  There 
were  a  few  private  schools,  where  the  children  could  learn  to  read  and 
write. 

Old  women  who  told  fortunes  drove  a  thrifty  trade.  The  great  pleas- 
ures of  the  farmers  were  to  visit  their  friends  and  neighbors,  or  to  invite 
them  to  their  own  houses.  The  Quaker  farmers  drank  tea,  and  coffee,  and 
cider;  the  Germans,  beer ;  the  Irish,  whiskey.  On  market-days  and  -at 
fairs  there  was  hard  drinking  among  the  Scotch  and  Irish,  and  some  of 
them  went  home  at  night  with  bewildered  brains,  blackened  eyes,  and 
broken  heads. 


1/90-1800.] 


SOCIAL   LIFE   IN    OTHER   STATES. 


101 


111  the  Southern  States  there  were  three  classes  of  people — the  poor 
whites,  the  planters,  and  the  negroes.  Many  of  the  first  settlers  of  Virginia 
were  sent  out  from  England  as  apprentices.  Some  of  them  were  beggars 
and  vagabonds  whom  the  police  had  hustled  into  jail  in  London  ;  and  the 
judges,  that  England  might  be  rid  of  them,  sent  them  to  Virginia,  where 
their  services  were  sold  to  the  planters.  The  descendants  of  the  poor 
white  people  had  a  hard  time.  The  planters  treated  them  harshly,  and  the 
negroes  looked  down  upon  them;  but  many  of  them  had  pluck  enough  to 
fight  their  way  up,  and  become  honored  and  respected  citizens.  Yet  a 
large   portion   had   no  ambition   to   rise.     They  were   ignorant,  for  there 


OLD-TIME    SCHOOL    IN    PENNSYLVANIA. 


were  no  common  schools  in  the  Southern  States.  They  lived  in  shanties, 
ploughed  a  patch  of  ground  with  a  mule  and  cow  harnessed  together,  or, 
if  they  had  no  cow,  the  husband  harnessed  his  wife  with  the  mule.  They 
raised  corn  and  sweet  potatoes,  and  lean,  long-nosed  pigs,  and  lived  on  ham 


102 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VII. 


and  hominy.  They  smoked  corn-cob  pipes,  and  drank  raw  whiskey.  Their 
chief  pleasure  was  to  go  to  a  horse-race  or  to  the  county  town  on  court- 
days,  and  have  wrestling-matches,  or  a  fight  in  the-  market-places  and 
gouge  out  each  other's  eyes.  They  hated  work.  The  fact  that  the  rich 
owned  negro  slaves  made  them  all  the  more  degraded.  If  they  wanted 
food  they  helped  themselves  from  the  planter's  corn-crib,  or  stole  chickens 
and  turkeys.  If  found  out,  they  were  compelled  to  stand  in  the  pillory, 
sit  in  the  stocks,  or  be  tied  up  to  the  whipping-post.     Very  few  of  the 


IN    THE    STOCKS. 


poor  people  in  Virginia  could  read  or  write.  Ignorance  and  crime  go 
hand-in-hand,  and  whenever  the  judges  field  court  the  sheriff  had  a  long 
line  of  men  awaiting  trial,  who  had  stolen  chickens  or  turkeys,  or  com- 
mitted some  other  petty  crime. 

The  great  merchants  of  Virginia  lived  in  Norfolk  and  Alexandria. 
They  purchased  the  tobacco  raised  by  the  planters  and  shipped  it  to  Eng- 
land, bringing  back  silks  and  satins,  broadcloths  and  cassimeres,  tea,  coffee, 
hardware,  tables,  chairs,  and  bedsteads,  for  there  were  no  manufactures  in 
the  Southern  States. 

At  the  country  cross-roads  were  log  stores,  where  the  planters  made  their 
purchases  of  rum,  sugar,  and  molasses.  They  owned  wide  reaches  of  land 
—woods  and  fields.     They  lived  in  great  houses   with  wide  halls,  large 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   OTHER   STATES. 


103 


square  rooms,  piazza,  and  portico.  There  were  few  mechanics  in  Virginia, 
and  there  was  no  good  carpenter  or  joiner  work  about  the  houses.  There 
were  massive  beams  overhead;  the  wainscoting  was  rude;  the  doors 
sagged ;  the  whole  establishment  was  a  piece  of  patchwork.  Near  the 
planter's  house,  in  rear,  was  the  cook-house,  with  frying-pans  and  bake- 
oven.  The  first  thing  the  planter  did  in  the  morning  was  to  drink  a  glass 
of  rum  and  sweetened  water.  After  breakfast  he  rode  over  his  plantation, 
to  see  if  the  negroes  were  at  work.  At  noon  he  sat  down  to  a  dinner  of 
boiled  ham,  mutton,  and  cabbage.  One  of  his  neighbors  dined  with  him, 
or  he  was  a  guest  at  his  neighbors  house.  They  talked  politics,  or  the 
price  of  tobacco  and  negroes;  for  slaves  were  wanted  in  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia,  and  it  was  beginning  to  be  profitable  to  raise  slaves  for  mar- 
ket. Very  few  of  the  planters  had  any  books.  They  knew  little  of  wThat 
was  going  on  in  the  world.  They  loved  hunting,  and  kept  packs  of  hounds. 
It  was  glorious  to  dash  through  fields  and  pastures,  leaping  fences,  with 


THE    FAMILY    COACH. 


the  hounds  baying  and  the  horn  of  the  huntsman  sounding.  When  the 
hunt  was  over  they  sat  down  to  grand  dinners  and  drank  mightily  of  port 
and  Madeira  wine,  rum  and  brandy.     The  one  who  could  drink  most  be- 


104 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VII. 


fore  lie  fell  dead-drunk  upon  the  floor  was  the  best  fellow.  In  the  large 
towns,  at  parties,  stately  minuets  were  danced  to  the  music  of  a  violin,  the 
ladies  wearing  silks,  satins,  and  brocades,  which  had  been  purchased  in 
London  or  Paris. 

The  Virginia  planters  were  very  hospitable.     Living   alone   on  their 


A    VIRGINIA    KITCHEN. 


great  plantations,  they  were  lonesome,  and  were  accustomed  to  send  to  the 
towns  to  invite  strangers  to  spend  the  night  with  them.  Only  by  such 
means  could  they  learn  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  world,  for  there  were 
few  newspapers,  stage-coaches,  or  post-riders.  There  were  no  bridges  across 
the  rivers.  Streams  that  could  not  be  forded  were  crossed  by  ferry.  Aris- 
tocratic planters  and  their  families  rode  in  lumbering  old  coaches,  going 
to  church  on  Sundays,  with  driver  and  footman  in  livery. 

The  slaves  lived  in  log-cabins,  slept  on  straw  beds,  and  ate  their  allow- 
ance of  bacon,  given  out  by  the  overseers.  Their  names  were  Caesar,  Pom- 
pey,  Cuff,  Dinah,  Cleopatra — never  a  surname.  They  had  little  joy  in  life, 
for  the  master  could  sell  them,  separating  husband,  and  wife,  and  children. 
Their  only  joy,  when  the  day's  work  was  done,  was  to  dance  and  sing. 


1790-1800.] 


SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   OTHER   STATES. 


107 


READY    1'OR    THE    HUNT. 


The  people  in  the  Southern  States  thought  a  great  deal  of  Christmas, 
putting  up  evergreens  in  their  churches,  making  Christmas  week  one  of 
holidays,  giving  parties,  and  sending  presents  to  friends  and  neighbors. 
All  the  slaves  on  the  plantations  expected  a  present  from  the  great  house 
on  Christmas  morning.  It  was  the  one  day  of  the  year  on  which  the  col- 
ored people  were  supremely  happy.  For  a  whole  week  they  would  not 
be  obliged  to  work,  and  they  could  sing  and  dance  from  Monday  morning 
till  Saturday  night. 

The  men  who  crossed  the  Alleghanies,  and  settled  in  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee,  lived  in  log-cabins,  and  wore  linsey-woolsey  shirts  and  buck- 
skin breeches.  They  carried  very  few  things  across  the  mountains.  The 
farmer  must  have  an  axe,  a  hoe,  and  a  ploughshare.  There  must  be  an 
auger  and  a  chisel  in  a  neighborhood;  with  these  they  could  make  their 
rude  ploughs  and  carts.  The  housewife  must  have  a  Dutch-oven  and 
frying-pan;  with  these  she  could  begin  house-keeping,  eating  from  wooden 
plates,  drinking  pure  spring- water  from  gourd -shells,  sleeping  on  bear- 
skins. A  little  patch  of  ground  supplied  the  family  with  corn,  which  was 
pounded  with  a  pestle  in  a  hollow  log  for  hominy,  or  ground  in  a  hand- 
mill  for  Johnny-cake,  and  baked  on  a  hot  stone  or  in  the  ashes.  They 
ate  sweet  butter  and  drank  the  buttermilk.  The  husband's  rifle  supplied 
the  family  with  venison  or  wild  turkeys. 


108 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VII. 


There  was  no  "rank"  in  society,  no  aristocracy  of  wealth  or  culture. 
They  had  few  schools  or  hooks. 

If  a  young  man  fell  in  love  with  a  girl  he  asked  her  at  once  to  be 
his  wife.  There  was  no  long  courtship — no  waiting  till  she  could  make 
sheets  and  pillow-cases  or  a  wedding-gown.  Very  picturesque  was  a  Ken- 
tucky wedding  one  hundred  years  ago.  The  guests  met  at  the  house 
of  the  bridegroom's  father.  Few  of  them  had  more  than  one  suit  of 
clothes  in  the  world.  The  men  wore  leather  breeches,  leggings,  and  hunt- 
ing-shirts;  the  women  and  girls  linsey-woolsey  gowns.      They  rode   on 


mm 


A    VIRGINIA    REEL. 


horseback,  for  there  was  scarcely  a  wagon  in  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  or 
Ohio.  Before  starting  they  took  a  drink  of  whiskey.  The  wedding  was 
at  noon,  and  when  the  ceremony  was  over  came  the  grand  dinner  —  a 
long  table  spread  with  great  joints  of  roast  beef,  baked  pig,  turkeys, 
chicken,  venison,  bear's  meat,  bacon,  eggs,  ham,  Johnny-cake,  cabbage, 
boiled  hominy,  hot  milk-punch,  sassafras-tea,  egg-nog,  rum,  and  whiskey. 
After  dinner  the  gray-headed  negro  fiddler  put  a  stool  upon  the  table, 


1797.]  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JOHN  ADAMS.  Ill 

sat  upon  it,  and  tuned  his  fiddle.  He  was  master  of  ceremonies.  "  Do 
gemmen  will  please  choose  der  partners,"  he  would  say.  There  was  bow- 
ing and  courtesying,  and  the  dancing  began,  bride  and  bridegroom  lead- 
ing off.  Through  the  afternoon,  the  evening,  the  night,  till  the  fiddler 
could  no  longer  draw  his  bow,  till  the  weary  feet  could  no  longer  keep 
step,  the  minuets,  reels,  jigs,  and  breakdowns  went  on. 

In  the  evening,  when  there  was  a  lull  in  the  dancing,  the  girls  stole 
the  bride  away,  hurried  her  up  the  ladder  to  the  loft  above,  and  tucked 
her  in  bed  ;  then  the  young  men  in  turn  lifted  the  bridegroom  up  the 
ladder,  and  placed  him  beside  her. 

The  young  couple  must  have  a  house,  and  their  friends  gave  them  a 
"'log-rolling"  —  cutting  logs,  matching  the  ends,  rolling  them  one  upon 
another,  building  a  cabin,  which  had  a  stone  fireplace  at  one  end,  and  at 
the  other  a  door  split  from  bass-wood  and  hung  with  wooden  hinges.  In 
such  houses  the  young  pioneers  of  the  West  began  life,  and  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  the  great  Central  States  of  the  Republic. 


112 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  JOHN  ADAMS. 

JOHN   ADAMS,  of  Massachusetts,  became   President  March  4,  1797. 
elected  by  the  Federal  party.     France  was  at  war  with  England,  Aus- 
tria, and  Prussia.     Bonaparte  was  defeating  the  armies  of  Austria  in  Italy, 
winning  victories  over  the  Mamelukes  in  Egypt;  but  England  was  sweep- 
ing the  French  fleets  from  the  sea.    England  and  France  alike  were  insult- 
ing the  United  States.      Neither 
country   respected  the   Stars  and 
Stripes.      Great  Britain  had  near- 
ly two    hundred   and   fifty  ships, 
carrying  each  seventy-four  guns, 
nearly  three  hundred  frigates,  and 
more   than  five   hundred   smaller 
vessels.      No  sailor  on  shore  was 
safe  in  England  from  the  press- 
gangs — parties  of  men  who  swept 
through  the  streets  at  night,  visit- 
ing  sailors'  boarding-houses,  the 
toddy-shops,  seizing  and  hurrying 
them    on    board   the  war- vessels, 
to  serve  in  the  navy.      Men  who 
never  had  been  to  sea  were  seized. 
There   were    many   fig] its   in   the 
streets  of  English  seaports. 
The   commanders  of  English   war-ships   began   to    impress   American 
sailors — overhauling  vessels  and  taking  the  sailors  by  force ;  and  not  only 
sailors,  but  ships.     England  and  France  were  still  at  war,  and  the  five  men 
called  the  "  Directory,"  who  managed  affairs  in  France,  issued  an  order 
that  if  any  American  sailor  was  found  on  the  vessel  of  any  nation  hostile  to 
France,  he  should  be  hung  as  a  pirate.     President  Adams  sent  Mr.  Pinck- 
ney,  of  South  Carolina,  John  Marshall,  of  Virginia,  and  Elbridge  Gerry, 


1797.] 


ADMINISTRATION   OF  JOHN  ADAMS. 


113 


C.  C.  PINCKNEY. 


of  Massachusetts,  to  Paris  to  negotiate  a  treaty.    The  men  in  the  Directory 
were  corrupt,  and  thought  that  an  opportunity  had  arrived  for  them  to 

put  money  in  their  own  pockets. 

"Pay  us  two  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  dollars  and  we  will  give 
you  an  audience,"  they  said,  and  in- 
timated that  if  the  conditions  were 
not  complied  with  orders  would  he 
sent  to  the  captain  of  the  war-ship 
to  burn  the  towns  along  the  sea- 
coast  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  The 
blood  of  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinck- 
ney  took  fire.  "Millions  for  de- 
fence, but  not  one  cent  for  trib- 
ute !"  he  said. 

The  people  of  America  took  it 
up,  and  it  rung  over  the  hills  and 
valleys, electrifying  the  people.  Mr. 
Gerry  wTas  a  Democrat,  and  thought  it  would  be  better  to  comply  with  the 
Directory  rather  than  risk  a  war;  but  he  found  that  he  had  mistaken 
the  temper  of  the  people.  The  men 
who  had  fought  eight  years  to  obtain 
Independence  were  not  going  to  sur- 
render it  in  that  way.  They  would 
tight.  In  1796  Congress  voted  that 
six  frigates  should  be  built.  Joseph 
Humphrys,  of  Philadelphia,  prepared 
the  models,  and  in  a  short  time  the 
ship -carpenters  and  calkers  were  at 
work  —  at  Boston  on  the  Constitu- 
tion, at  New  York  on  the  President, 
at  Philadelphia  on  the  United  States. 
They  carried  forty-four  guns  each. 
The  other  three — the  Congress  built 
at  Portsmouth,  N.  IT.,  the  Constella- 
tion at  Baltimore,  the  Chesapeake  at 
Portsmouth,  Va. — carried  thirty-eight 

guns  each.     The  old  patriotism  flamed  up  once  more.     Washington  was 
appointed  Commander-in-chief  of  the  army. 

Out  of  the  patriotism  of  1798  came  a  noble  song.     Mr.  Fox,  of  Phila- 

S 


ELBKIDUE    GEKKY. 


114 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


delphia,  was  an  actor,  and  was  to  have  a  benefit.  It  was  to  be  on  Monday 
night.  Saturday  afternoon  came — only  twenty  boxes  had  been  sold,  and 
Mr.  Fox  was  afraid  that  there  would  be  a  thin  house. 

"You  must  write  me  a  patriotic  song.  I  will  advertise  it,  and  shall 
have  a  full  house,"  he  said  to  his  friend,  Joseph  llopkinson.  Mr.  IIop- 
kinson  was  &  lawyer,  but  had  never  written  much  poetry. 

"I  will  see  what  I  can  do.     Come  in  to-morrow  afternoon." 


SCENK    IN    THE    THEATRE   IN    PHILADELPHIA,    1794. 


On  Sunday  afternoon  Mr.  Fox  sung  the  words,  which  Mr.  llopkinson 
had  set  to  the  march  which  band-master  Phyla  composed  when  Wash- 
ington was  inaugurated. 

On  Monday  morning  the  bulletin-boards  had  the  following  announce- 
ment: "Mr.  Fox  has  a  benefit  to-night,  and  will  sing  a  new  patriotic 
song,  written  by  Joseph  llopkinson." 

Night  came,  and  the  theatre  was  full.  Mr.  Fox  stood  upon  the  stage, 
the  band  played  the  opening  strain,  and  then  came  the  song : 

"  Hail,  Columbia,  happy  land! 
Hail,  ve  heroes,  heaven-born  band  ! 


1798.]  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JOHN  ADAMS.  115 

Who  fought  and  bled  in  freedom's  cause —     {Repeat.) 

And  when  the  storm  of  war  was  gone, 

Enjoyed  the  peace  your  valor  won. 

Let  Independence  be  your  boast, 

Ever  mindful  what  it  cost ; 

Ever  grateful  for  the  prize, 

Let  its  altar  reach  the  skies. 

Firm,  united,  let  us  be, 

Rallying  round  our  liberty; 

As  a  band  of  brothers  joined, 

Peace  and  safety  we  shall  find." 

The  people  are  wild  with  delight, 

"  Again  !"  they  shout, 

lie  sings  it  a  second  time,  and  the  building  shakes  with  the  stamping 
of  feet  and  clapping  of  hands. 

"  Once  more !" 

Again  he  sings,  and  the  applause  is  wilder  than  ever.  Once  more — 
four,  five,  nine  times  —  he  sings  it,  the  audience  standing,  men  on  the 
seats  tossing  their  hats  to  the  ceiling,  ladies  in  the  boxes  waving  their 
handkerchiefs. 

It  has  gone  to  the  hearts  of  the  people.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with 
party.     It  thrills  all  who  hear  it, 

The  next  night  the  theatre  was  crowded  to  hear  it  again.  Several 
times  Mr.  Fox  sung  it,  The  third  night  another  crowd  was  there.  The 
members  of  Congress  came  to  hear  it.  In  a  few  days  all  Philadelphia 
was  singing  it;  the  New  Yorkers  took  it  up;  Boston  sung  it.  All  over 
the  country  men  of  all  parties  sung  it.  Boys  declaimed  it  in  the  school- 
houses  of  New  England,  kindling  anew  the  patriotism  of  the  nation. 

There  was  no  declaration  of  war  between  France  and  the  United 
States,  but  nevertheless  war  began.  Thomas  Truxtun,  captain  of  the 
Constellation,  came  upon  the  small  French  vessel  Le  Croyable  (14  guns), 
which  was  cruising  to  capture  American  merchant-ships;  and  as  the  Con- 
stellation, with  her  38  guns,  could  quickly  send  her  to  the  bottom,  the 
French  captain  pulled  down  his  flag.  This  was  the  first  vessel  captured 
by  the  new  navy  of  the  nation. 

Great  Britain  became  more  arrogant,  and  the  captain  of  the  war-ship 
Carnatic  outraged  the  United  States  by  seizing  three  American  merchant- 
ships  and  several  sailors. 

Wise  men  do  not  always  act  wisely.  American  merchants  were  mak- 
ing much  money  by  trading  with  England.  President  Adams  did  not 
want  any  trouble  with  that  country,  and  issued  a  very  humiliating  order 


116 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


to  the  commanders  of  the  American  war-ships :  they  were  not  to  interfere 
even  if  they  saw  an  English  war-ship  capturing  an  American  merchant- 
vessel  !     This  humiliating  order  made  the  President  very  unpopular. 


;  CONSTELLATION  "    AND    "  LA    VENGEANCE. 


The  war  with  France  on  the  ocean  went  on.  In  1799  Commander 
Truxtun,  in  the  Co?istellatio?i,  fell  in  with  the  French  frigate  L Insur- 
gents. The  Constellation  carried  38  guns  and  309  men,  JO  Insurgente  40 
guns  and  409  men.  The  fight  lasted  more  than  an  hour.  The  French 
ship  lost  70  men,  and  was  obliged  to  surrender. 

Captain  Truxtun  had  a  second  battle  in  the  night,  with  a  ship  much 
larger  than    the  Constellation  —  La  Vengeance,  which   carried   54  guns. 


1798.] 


ADMINISTRATION   OF   JOHN  ADAMS. 


117 


Twice  the  captain  of  La  Vengeance  struck  his  colors,  but  Commander 
Truxtun  did  not  know  it,  and  the  French  ship  crept  away  in  the  darkness. 
On  ship  and  on  shore  sailors  and  landsmen  sent  up  their  hurrahs  and 
sniiff  doggerel  rhymes  in  honor  of  Commander  Truxtun  : 

"  We  sailed  to  the  West  Indies  in  order  to  annoy — 
The  invaders  of  our  commerce  to  burn,  sink,  or  destroy ! 
Our  Constellation  shone  so  bright 
The  Frenchmen  could  not  bear  the  sight, 
And  away  they  scampered  in  affright 
From  the  brave  Yankee  bovs !" 


MEDAL    TO    COMMANDER    TRUXTUN. 


Many  Frenchmen  had  fled  from  France  to  the  United  States,  and  were 
making  so  much  trouble  that  Congress  passed  an  alien  law,  under  which 
the  President  was  authorized  to  send  any  one  whom  he  might  judge  to  be 
dangerous  out  of  the  country.  A  sedition  law  was  passed,  under  which 
a  man  might  be  put  in  prison  for  publishing  anything  false  or  malicious 
against  the  government.  The  President  did  not  send  anybody  out  of  the 
country;  no  one  was  imprisoned;  but  the  Democrats  had  a  great  deal  to 
say  against  the  laws,  denouncing  them  as  tyrannical  and  subversive  of 
liberty. 

One  thistle -seed  had  been  sown  in  Virginia  in  1620,  and  in  179S 
Thomas  Jefferson  planted  a  companion  seed — very  harmless  at  the  time, 
but  which  was  destined  to  bring  forth  a  terrible  harvest. 

John  Taylor,  of  Virginia,  was  a  member  of  Congress,  and  was  so  bit- 
terly opposed  to  President  Adams,  and  had  such  a  hatred  of  the  alien  and 
sedition  laws,  that  he  said  Virginia  was  not  bound  to  respect  them,  and 


118 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


that  the  State  ought,  to  secede  from  the  Union,  because  the  laws  were 
unconstitutional.  Jefferson  and  Madison  sympathized  with  John  Taylor, 
as  did  Mr.  Nicholas,  of  Kentucky ;  and  together  they  planted  the  new 
thistle- seed.  Resolutions  were  written  by  Jefferson  declaring  the  Na- 
tional Constitution  to  be,  not  a  form  of  government  adopted  by  the 
people,  but  only  a  compact  between  the  different  States;  that  the  parties 
making  the  agreement  were  not  the  people,  but  the  States,  as  political 
corporations. 

Mr.  Nicholas  managed  to  have  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  pass  the 
resolutions.  James  Madison  changed  them  a  little,  and  they  were  passed 
by  the  Virginia  Legislature.  John  Taylor  tried  to  have  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina  set  up  a  confederacy,  but  the  people  were  satisfied  with 
the  Constitution,  and  nothing  came  of  the  effort  just  then  ;  but  the  seed 
had  been  sown;  sixty  years  later  came  the  harvest. 

December,  1799,  came — the  closing  month  of  the  closing  year  of  the 
century.  Washington  was  at  Mount  Vernon,  living  on  his  farm.  lie  rode 
out,  and  was  chilled  in  a  storm.  Ilis  throat  was  sore  when  he  went  to 
bed  at  night,  and  was  worse  in  the  morning.  Dr.  Craik  came  and  bled 
him.  Two  other  doctors  came,  and  he  was  bled  again.  They  did  what 
the  medical  books  prescribed,  which  we  now  know  was  very  bad  treat- 
ment, lie  grew  worse  through  the  day,  and  died  at  midnight,  December 
15,1799.  His  body  was  laid  in  the  family  tomb,  beneath  the  overspread- 
ing trees,  and  all  the  world  mourned  his  death. 


Washington's  tomb  at  mount  vkrnon. 


1800.] 


WAR   WITH   ALGIERS. 


119 


CHAPTER   IX. 


WAR    WITH    ALGIERS. 


ANEW  century  dawned,  and  with  its  dawning  Thomas  Jefferson 
became  President,  and  Aaron  Burr,  of  New  York,  Vice-President. 
There  had  been  no  choice  by  the  electors  chosen  by  the  different  States, 
and,  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution,  they  were  elected  by  Congress. 

A  few  months  before  they  were 
elected  the  capital  was  removed 
from  Philadelphia  to  Washing- 
ton, which  was  only  a  straggling 
village,  and  where  the  members  of 
Congress  and  officers  of  the  gov- 
ernment had  to  live  for  a  while 
in  shanties  and  boarding -houses. 
There  was  only  one  hotel,  and  the 
President's  house  was  only  partly 
finished.  Mrs.  Adams,  during  the 
winter  of  1799,  used  to  hang  her 
washing  to  dry  in  the  great  un- 
finished east  room. 

President  Jefferson  was  a  plain 
man.  When  he  was  inaugurated 
he  would  have  no  parade  of  mili- 
tary, but  rode  alone  and  on  horse- 
back to  the  capital,  tied  the  horse  to  a  post,  entered  the  Capitol,  took  the 
oath  of  office,  and  rode  back  to  his  house. 

lie  was  hospitable,  and  so  democratic  that  members  of  Congress,  stran- 
gers, anybody  and  everybody,  who  called  upon  him  were  welcome  to  sit 
down  to  his  long  dining-table,  where  they  found  plain,  wholesome  food, 
and  but  little  cake. 

President  Jefferson  was  far-sighted.  People  were  swarming  into  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  Ohio,  and  Indiana.     He  saw  that  in  time  the  Ohio  and 


. 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 


121) 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  IX. 


Mississippi  were  to  be  highways  to  the  sea  for  the  whole  central  portion 
of  the  continent.     But  France  held  Louisiana — not  the  State  alone  which 

now  bears  the  name,  but  all  the  country  west 
of  the  Mississippi  to  the  Rocky  Mountains 
and  the  Rio  Grande.  St.  Louis  and  New 
Orleans  were  inhabited  by  French  people. 
The  President  sent  Robert  R.  Livingston  of 
Isew  York  and  James  Monroe  to  Paris,  to  see 
if  the  country  along  the  Mississippi  to  the 
ocean  could  be  purchased.  Bonaparte  want- 
ed money,  and  was  ready  to  sell  all  of  the 
territory  owned  by  France  for  $15,000,000, 
and  they  quickly  signed  the  treaty.  "We 
have  lived  long,  but  this  is  the  noblest  work 
of  our  lives,"  said  Mr.  Livingston  as  he  laid 
down  the  pen. 

So  the  United  States  obtained  possession  of  the  country  from  the  Mis- 
sissippi to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the 
head  waters  of  the  Mississippi. 


UOHERT    K.   LIVINGSTON. 


ALCilERS    IN    1800. 


No  one  knew  anything  about  the  country  but  what  had  been  learn- 
ed from  hunters.  The  President  sent  Captain  Meriwether  Lewis  and 
Captain  William  Clarke   up  the  Missouri  to  make  explorations.      They 


1800.] 


AVAR  WITH  ALGIERS. 


121 


crossed  the  Kooky  Mountains,  descended  the  Columbia  to  the  sea,  and  re- 
turned after  an  absence  of  three  years,  giving  to  the  world  the  first  authen- 
tic intelligence  of  the  interior  of  the  continent — of  its  great  rivers,  far- 
reaching  prairies,  and  lofty  mountains.  Not  till  their  return  did  the  world 
have  any  idea  of  the  wonderful  resources  and  unmeasured  capabilities  of 
the  vast  domain,  and  of  the  possibilities  for  the  future  greatness  of  the 
American  people. 

The  United  States  Government  had  been  so  slow  to  resent  the  in- 
sults and  outrages  of  France  and  England,  that  Algiers,  Morocco,  Tunis, 
and  Tripoli — the  Barbary  States  in  Africa — set  themselves  to  capturing 
American  vessels,  selling  their  crews  as  slaves.  Not  only  American  but 
French,  English,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  Italian — vessels  of  all  nations — were 
plundered  by  the  pirates,  who  asked  great  prices  for  the  ransom  of  the 
crews  from  slavery.  The  sailors 
were  whipped,  kicked,  cuffed  by 
their  cruel  masters.  The  United 
States,  to  purchase  the  good  -  will 
of  these  pirates,  made  presents  ev- 
ery year  of  cannon,  powder,  and 
money. 

The  President  sent  Captain 
Bainbridge,  in  the  ship  George 
Washington,  to  pay  the  tribute  for 
1S00.  The  Governor  of  Algiers 
was  insolent  and  arrogant. 

"  I  want  you  to  carry  my  am- 
bassador to  Constantinople,"  he  said. 

"  I  cannot  do  it,"  Bainbridge 
replied. 

"You  pay  me  tribute;  you  are 
my  slaves,  and  I  have  the  right  to 

order  you  to  do  as  I  please,"  said  the  governor.  The  guns  of  the  castle 
were  pointed  toward  the  George  Washington,  and  he  was  obliged  to  sail 
to  Constantinople,  with  the  ambassador  on  board.  The  Sultan  saw  a 
strange  flag  floating  from  the  mast-head  of  a  vessel  in  the  Bosphorus — 
the  Stars  and  Stripes — and  was  astonished  to  learn  that  far  away  in  the 
West  there  was  a  new  nation,  the  United  States. 

The  Sultan  was  much  pleased  with  Commander  Bainbridge,  and  gave 
him  &  firman  (or  paper)  to  protect  him  from  the  insolence  of  the  Governor 
of  Algiers.     Bainbridge  sailed  back  to  that  port. 


WILLIAM    BAINBRIDGE. 


122 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  IX. 


MOORS    GRINDING    SWORDS. 


"I  want  you  to  go  back  again  to  Constantinople,"  said  the  governor, 
intending  to  make  him  fetch  and  carry  at  his  pleasure. 

"  I  shall  not  go  !" 

The  governor  flew  into  a  rage,  and  was  ready  to  draw  his  sword  and 
strike  clown  the  man  who  had  refused  to  do  his  bidding. 


WAR  WITH   ALGIERS 


123 


"  Here  is  the  Sultan's  fii 


.  .■■$£■ 


INTERIOR    OF    A    MOORISH    CAFE 


The  governor  bowed  low. 

"  What  can  I  do  for  you  ?" 

"  You  will  instantly  release 
the  French  Consul  and  sixty  Frenchmen,  whom  you  have  put  in  prison." 

The  governor  did  not  dare  refuse,  and  Commander  Bainbridge  had  the 
pleasure  of  carrying  the  consul  and  his  countrymen  across  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  France.  The  Governor  of  Tripoli  was  Yussuf  Caramelli,  who 
had  murdered  his  father  and  eldest  brother,  and  compelled  his  next  older 
brother,  Hamet,  to  flee  to  Egypt.  He  was  cruel,  blood-thirsty,  and  insolent. 
He- was  not  satisfied  with  what  he  received  from  the  United  States,  but 
demanded  a  large  sum  of  money,  and,  because  it  was  not  paid,  captured 
several  American  vessels,  and  made  slaves  of  the  crews. 

Commodore  Dale  sailed  with  ships  to  bring  them  to  terms,  but  the 
pirates  sharpened  their  swords,  thinking   to   make  quick   work  with   the 


124:  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  IX. 

Americans.  One  of  Commodore  Dale's  vessels  was  the  Enterprise,  com- 
manded by  Lieutenant  Sterrit,  who  was  off  Malta  when  a  small  vessel  with 
two  masts,  carrying  several  guns,  ran  along-side,  hoisted  a  red  flag  with  a 
crescent  upon  it,  and  poured  in  a  broadside.  The  sailors  of  the  Enterprise 
sprung  to  their  guns,  run  them  out  of  the  port-holes,  and  returned  the  fire, 
keeping  it  up  till  the  Algerines  surrendered.  Captain  Sterrit  lowered  a 
boat,  to  send  an  officer  on  board,  when  up  went  the  flag  again,  and  an- 
other broadside  came  crashing  into  the  Enterprise.  The  sailors,  indignant 
at  such  trickery,  fired  with  more  vio;or  than  ever,  till  the  Al serine  once 
more  hauled  dowui  his  colors.  Again  the  officer  started  to  take  possession 
of  the  craft,  when  up  it  went  once  more. 

"Sink  her!  send  the  pirates  to  the  bottom!"  shouted  Captain  Sterrit, 
and  the  shot  from  the  guns  of  the  Enterprise  went  crashing  into  the  ves- 
sel till  the  deck  ran  with  blood,  and  the  pirates  jumped  one  by  one  into 
the  sea,  and  the  treacherous  captain  pulled  down  his  flag  once  more,  and 
this  time  threwT  it  overboard. 

"  Tin's  is  the  tribute  which  the  United  States  pays  you  !"  shouted  Cap- 
tain Sterrit. 

The  Enterprise  had  not  a  man  injured.  The  pirate  captain  reached 
the  shore,  made  his  way  to  Tripoli;  but  the  governor,  angry  at  the  loss  of 
the  vessel,  had  him  paraded  through  the  streets  on  a  jackass,  then  thrown 
upon  the  ground,  bound  with  ropes,  and  five  hundred  blows  struck  upon 
his  bare  feet. 

In  1803  Commander  Preble  was  sent  out  to  carry  on  the  war,  and  he 
quickly  brought  the  Governor  of  Morocco  to  terms.  One  of  his  frigates 
was  the  Philadelphia,  a  new  and  beautiful  vessel,  commanded  by  Captain 
Bainbridge,  who  saw  a  vessel  making  for  the  harbor  of  Tripoli  and  gave 
chase,  when  suddenly  he  found  himself  on  a  sunken  reef,  and  the  forward 
part  of  the  noble  ship  high  out  of  water  on  the  rocks. 

He  ran  all  the  forward  guns  aft,  set  the  sailors  to  work  hoisting  the 
water-casks  in  the  forepart  of  the  hold  to  lighten  the  ship;  then  he  threw 
the  cannon  overboard,  cut  down  the  foremast,  but  it  would  not  move. 

In  the  harbor  of  Tripoli  were  several  of  the  enemy's  gun-boats.  They 
saw  their  opportunity,  and  opened  fire.  Captain  Bainbridge,  seeing  that 
there  was  no  hope  of  getting  the  Philadel.pl da  free,  had  to  strike  his 
colors. 

The  gun-boats  ran  along-side,  the  Tripolitans  leaping  on  board,  seizing 
officers  and  sailors,  stripping  them  half  naked.  It  was  a  bitter  moment 
when  they  were  driven  into  the  boats  of  the  pirates,  taken  on  shore,  and 
put  in  prison,  the  sailors  to  be  sold  as  slaves. 


1803.] 


WAR  WITH  ALGIERS. 


125 


The  Governor  was  greatly  elated  over  his  prize.     lie  took  out  the  can- 
non, lightened  the   ship  till  it  floated  once  more,  then  towed  it  into  the 
harbor,  moored  it  under  the  guns  of  his  castle,  put  the  cannon  on  board  t 
and  a  crew  of  one  thousand  men.     In  a  few  days  he  would  have  it  out  on 
the  Mediterranean. 

Commander  Preble  was  at  Syracuse,  on  board  the  Constitution,  with 
Lieutenant  Decatur  command- 
ing the  Enterprise.  It  never 
would  do  to  let  the  pirates 
keep  possession  of  the  Phila- 
delphia. It  would  be  a  dis- 
grace to  the  United  States; 
and  a  plan  was  formed  to  de- 
stroy it. 

The  Governor  of  Tripoli 
was  accustomed  to  send  pres- 
ents to  the  Sultan;  and  one  of 
his  presents  was  twenty  women 
slaves,  which  he  put  on  board 
a  two-masted  vessel,  the  ketch 
Mastico.  But,  as  things  came 
about,  the  Sultan  did  not  re- 
ceive the  present,  for  Lieuten- 
ant Decatur  fell  in  with  the 
vessel  and  captured  it,  set  the 

slaves  at  liberty,  and  renamed  the  vessel  Intrepid.  He  laid  his  plan  to 
use  it  to  destroy  the  Philadelphia.  He  called  for  volunteers.  Every 
man  on  the  Enterprise  was  ready :  they  were  on  fire  to  take  part  in  the 
glorious  work.  He  chose  Lieutenant  Lawrence,  Lieutenant  Bainbridge, 
Lieutenant  Horn,  Midshipman  McDonough,  Doctor  Harman,  and  Midship- 
men Izard,  Morris,  Davis,  and  Rowe  for  his  officers.  There  were  seventy- 
four  men  in  all.  The  sailors  rolled  up  balls  of  oakum  and  saturated  them 
with  tar,  so  that  they  would  burn  quickly,  and  stowed  them  in  the  hold  of 
the  Intrepid. 

Accompanied  by  the  sloop  Siren,  they  sailed  for  Tripoli.  But  a 
furious  storm  came  on,  which  swept  over  the  little  vessel  and  wet  their 
meat,  so  that  they  had  nothing  but  bread.  For  six  days  they  were  tossed 
about;  but  the  storm  passed  by,  and  on  a  dark  night  they  entered  the 
harbor  of  Tripoli.  They  could  see  the  Philadelphia  at  anchor  close 
in  shore  under  the  guns  of  the  fort.     Lieutenant  Decatur  had  drilled  his 


EDWARD    PREBLE. 


126 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  IX. 


men.  Each  officer  knew  just  what  he  was  expected  to  do.  "Philadelphia" 
was  the  watchword  which  they  were  to  give  in  the  darkness.  To  get 
along-side  and  on  board  was  all  they  wanted — their  swords  would  do  the 
rest.     It  was  to  be  a  tight  of  seventy-four  against  one  thousand. 

Slowly  the  Intrepid  floated  in. 
Decatur,  and  the  pilot,  a  native  of 
Malta  who  knew  the  harbor,  and 
the  man  at  the  helm,  alone  stood; 
the  rest  were  all  secreted. 
"What  ship  is  that?" 
It  was  the  sentinel  on  the  Phila- 
delphia who  called. 

"A  ship  from  France.  "We  have 
lost  our  anchors  in  the  storm,  and 
;  want  to  make  fast  to  yours  till  morn- 
^  ing,"  said  the  pilot,  steering  straight 
on.  "  We  have  a  cargo  of  wines, 
raisins,  and  olives,"  he  added,  to  al- 
lay all  suspicion.  A  couple  of  sail- 
ors stepped  into  a  boat  and  carried 
a  warp  to  the  Philadelphia  and  fast- 
ened it. 

"  Pull !"  It  was  a  whisper,  but 
the  sailors,  lying  flat  on  the  deck  of  the  Intrepid,  gave  a  pull,  and  the  ves- 
sel began  to  surge  along-side. 

"  Amerikanoes  !  Ainerikanoes  !" 

Another  pull,  and  Decatur,  Morris,  and  Rowe  are  on  board.  Up  over 
the  bulwarks,  through  the  port-holes,  swarm  the  sailors.  There  is  an  out- 
cry— a  hubbub.  The  Tripolitans,  frightened,  not  knowing  what  is  going 
on,  leap  through  the  port-holes  on  the  other  side  or  plunge  from  the  deck 
into  the  sea.  Ten  minutes,  and  Decatur  and  his  men  are  in  possession. 
A  rocket  shoots  up  toward  heaven.  It  is  to  let  those  on  the  Siren,  out  in 
the  harbor,  know  that  all  is  well. 

"Oh,  if  Lieutenant  Decatur  could  but  take  the  ship  out  to  sea!  But 
lie  cannot.  There  is  not  a  sail  upon  the  yards;  all  have  been  taken  down. 
In  a  few  minutes  the  gun-boats,  close  by,  will  be  upon  him,  and  the  cannon 
of  the  fort  will  thunder.  Up  from  the  hold  of  the  Intrepid  come  the 
balls  of  oakum.  Buckets  of  tar  are  emptied  upon  the  deck.  When  all  is 
ready,  the  fire  is  kindled,  the  tar-balls  burst  into  a  blaze,  and  the  flames 
run  along   the   deck   and   hiss    up  into  the   rigging.      The   sailors  jump 


STEPHEN    DKCATDR. 


1603.]  WAR  WITH  ALGIERS.  127 

aboard  the  Intrepid,  cut  the  ropes  that  bind  them  to  the  Philadelphia 
with  their  swords,  and  sail  away. 

Three  cheers  ring  out  upon  the  air.  The  cannon  of  the  gun-boats  and 
forts  flamed.  Shot  fell  around  them,  tossing  the  spray  into  the  air;  one 
cuts  through  the  sail — but  what  care  they  for  that?  The  ship  is  aflame 
from  stern  to  stem,  from  bulwark  to  topmast,  lighting  up  the  harbor. 
Upward  leap  the  flames,  heating  the  loaded  cannon,  which  go  off  one  by 
one,  sending  their  shot  crashing  into  Tripoli,  arousing  the  Governor  from 
his  slumbers,  who  can  only  gnash  his  teeth  with  rage. 

Out  to  the  fleet  sails  the  Intrepid,  not  one  of  the  seventy-four  men  on 
board  receiving  so  much  as  a  scratch. 

There  was  desperate  fighting  in  the  harbor  of  Tripoli  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1803.  The  governor  had  a  brig,  two  schooners,  and  nineteen  gun- 
boats, besides  strong  forts.  In  all  he  had  one  hundred  and  fifteen  cannon, 
and  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand  men.  There  were  dangerous  reefs 
and  rocks  in  the  harbor,  of  which  Commander  Preble  was  more  afraid 
than  of  the  forts  and  gun-boats.  His  great  difficulty  was  to  get  at  the 
pirates.  Where  there  is  a  will  there  is  usually  a  way.  lie  manned  his 
gun-boats,  which  sailed  boldly  in,  and  fell  upon  the  pirates,  sinking  and 
capturing  six  vessels.  Three  days  later  there  was  another  fight,  in  which 
a  shot  from  one  of  the  forts  went  through  the  magazine  of  one  of  the 
American  gun- boats,  which  exploded,  killing  two  officers  and  ten  men. 
The  boat  was  sinking,  but  before  it  went  down  Midshipman  Spence  and 
eleven  men  finished  loading  their  twenty-four-pounder  at  the  bow,  fired 
it,  swung  their  hats,  gave  three  cheers,  and  the  next  moment  were  swim- 
ming for  the  other  boats. 

When  Commander  Preble  found  out  where  the  sunken  rocks  were  lie 
sailed  in,  and  the  Constitution  poured  her  broadsides  into  the  pirate  fleet, 
and  solid  shot  and  shell  into  the  town,  silenced  the  guns  on  the  forts, 
sunk  one  vessel,  and  sailed  out  again,  not  a  man  on  the  gallant  ship  hav- 
ing been  hurt. 

But  there  was  a  sad  loss.  One  of  the  officers  thought  that  the  pirate 
vessels  might  be  set  on  fire  by  a  fire-ship,  and  it  was  determined  to  try  it 
by  sending  in  the  Intrepid.  One  hundred  barrels  of  powder  were  placed 
on  board;  balls  of  oakum  were  soaked  in  tar;  splinters  and  kindlings 
heaped  on  the  deck.  A  boat's  crew  were  to  tow  the  vessel  in  at  night, 
set  the  kindlings  on  fire,  and  then  make  their  escape.  The  explosion 
of  the  powder  it  was  thought  would  send  the  flaming  balls  of  oakum 
among  the  Tripolitan  ships  and  set  them  on  fire. 

The  night  was  very  dark ;    the  Intrepid  disappeared  in    the  gloom. 


128 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  IX. 


Suddenly     there 
was  a  blight  flash 
—  a  broad  sheet — 
lighting  the   bay, 
harbor,  town,  and 
castle ;   there  was  an  earth- 
quake shock ;    then   all  was 
dark.      What  had  happened 
no  one  ever  knew,  for  the  In- 
scene  in  tangiers.  trepid  had  ii ot  reached  the 

point   for  which    it    started, 
and  all  on  board,  all  in  the  boats,  had  been  instantly  killed. 

The  man  who  had  killed  his  oldest  brother,  and  driven  his  next  older 
brother,  Hamet,  to  Egypt  and  seized  the  throne,  found  himself  in  a  sore 
strait.  General  Eaton,  of  the  United  States,  and  Hamet  were  on  their 
way  from  Egypt  across   the  desert  with  an  army.     They  captured  the 


1800.] 


WAR  WITH  ALGIERS. 


129 


town  of  Derne,  and  would  soon  be  approaching  Tripoli.  The  Americans 
had  nearly  destroyed  his  fleet;  they  had  battered  the  walls  of  the  forts; 
the  people  in  the  town  were  starving;  his  troops  soon  would  fall  away; 
and,  to  save  himself,  he  became  very  humble,  and  hastened  to  make  peace 
with  the  United  States. 

For   many  years  the  Barbary  pirates  had   plundered   the   vessels    of 


all  nations,  and  made  slaves  of  the 
hated  Christians,  but  never  before 
had  they  received  such  chastise- 
ment as  that  given  by  the  Amer- 
icans. 

"The    Americans,"    said     Pins 
the  desert.  VII.,  Pope  of  Rome,  "  have  done 

more  for  Christendom  against  the 
pirates  of  Africa  than  all  the  powers  of  Europe  united." 

More  than  this  had  been  accomplished.     Europe  began  to  comprehend 

9 


130  BUILDING   THE   NATION.  [Chap.  IX. 

that  there  was  a  new  nation  beyond  the  Atlantic;  and  still  more,  the  new 
nation  began  to  respect  itself.  Be  it  an  individual  or  a  nation,  there  must 
first  be  self-respect  to  command  respect  from  others.  And  still  more,  the 
officers  and  sailors  who  had  performed  deeds  of  valor  in  the  harbor  of 
Tripoli  were  at  school  preparing  for  struggles  with  a  nation  that  gloried 
in  being  mistress  of  the  seas. 


1802.] 


OPENING  YEAKS   OF  THE   CENTURY. 


131 


CHAPTEK  X. 


OPENING   YEARS   OF  THE   CENTURY. 


WHEN  Virginia  ceded  the  North-west  Territory  to  the  United  States 
in  1787,  a  tract  of  land  between  the  rivers  Scioto  and  Little  Miami 
was  reserved  for  the  payment  of  the  bounties  voted  the  soldiers  who 
fought  during  the  Revolution.  Nathaniel  Massie — who  was  only  twenty 
years  old  when  he  crossed  the  Alleghanies — who  had  studied  surveying, 
went  to  explore  the  country  in 
1791.  There  was  the  settlement 
at  Marietta,  which  the  Connecti- 
cut people  had  made,  and  Fort 
"Washington,  which  Major  Luce 
had  built  at  Cincinnati;  but  the 
countiy  was  all  a  wilderness,  and 
the  Indians  claimed  it  as  theirs. 

Nathaniel  Massie  alone,  or  ac- 
companied by  Duncan  McArthur, 
made  his  wa}T  through  the  soli- 
tudes, lying  down  upon  the  ground  ? 
when  night  came,  living  on  bears' 
meat  and  venison,  or  catching  fish 
for  breakfast  or  supper;  keeping 
a  sharp  lookout  for  Indians,  who 
would  have  hunted  him  down  if 
they  had  known  what  he  was  do- 
ing— selecting  lands  suitable  for  occupation  by  soldiers  who  were  to  follow. 
lie  visited  Kentucky,  and  gave  such  an  account  of  the  countiy  that 
some  of  the  people  in  Bourbon  County,  who  belonged  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  who  did  not  like  slavery,  determined  to  make  Ohio  their 
home.  Sixty  of  them,  with  their  rifles,  crossed  the  Ohio  in  1705,  with 
Nathaniel  Massie  to  lead  them,  and  made  their  way  up  the  Scioto  Valley. 
They  came  upon  a  party  of  Indians,  who  fired  upon  them.     There  was  a 


iNA'i'HAMEL    MASolK. 


132 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  X. 


battle.     One  of  the  Kentneldans  was  killed  and  two  wounded.     The  In- 
dians fled,  after  having  several  killed  and  wounded.     The  Kentnckians  saw 
how  beautiful  the  country  was,  and  went  back  to  prepare  for  a  settlement. 
The   next  spring  (1796)  a  larger  party  started — some   by   land,  and 


others  in  boats  r.p  the  Scioto — 
ploughs.     They  selected  a  site, 


with  oxen  and 
built  their  cab- 
ins, and  named 
the  place  Chil- 
licothe.  While 
the  ploughmen 
turned  their  fur- 
rows along  the 
river- bank  and 
planted  corn,  the 
others  kept  vigilant  watch  for 
Indians. 

The  people  of  Connecticut, 
Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire, 
and  New  York  heard  of  the  rich- 
ness of  the  lands  in  Ohio,  and  a 
great  number  of  emigrants  left 
their  Eastern  homes  to  become 
citizens  of  the  rising  State — so 
many  of  them  that  in  1802  the 
seventeenth  State  was  added  to  the  Union.  Its  capital  was  Chillicothe, 
laid  out  by  Nathaniel  Massie,  who  was  elected  first  governor. 

Coward  !  To  be  called  a  coward  brings  the  hot  blood  to  the  cheeks  of 
brave  men.  A  coward  is  a  fellow  of  mean  spirit,  who  has  not  the  courage 
to  face  danger  when  duty  calls  him.  At  the  beginning  of  this  century  a 
great  many  good  men  had  false  estimates  of  what  constitutes  true  courage. 
A  man  who  would  not  light  a  duel  when  challenged,  no  matter  what  the 
cause,  was  branded  as  a  coward.  Away  back  in  early  times,  in  England 
and  Europe,  if  men  had  differences  they  settled  them  by  fighting.  Many 
duels  were  fought  in  England  by  dukes,  lords,  members  of  Parliament, 
and  officers  of  the  army  and  navy. 

In  1S02  De  Witt  Clinton  and  John  Swartwout,  of  New  York,  fought  a 
duel,  and  the  next  year  Clinton  fought  General  Dayton.  If  a  gentleman 
did  not  fight  when  challenged,  other  gentlemen  looked  down  upon  him 
and  shunned  his  presence. 


OLD    STATE-HOUSE,    CHILLICOTHE. 


1802.] 


OPENING  YEAES   OF  THE   CENTURY. 


133 


What  will  people  say  ?  That  was  the  question  which  men  ashed.  Pub- 
lic sentiment  replied  that  men  who  would  not  fight  duels  when  challenged 
were  of  mean  spirit.  Men  knew  that  to  fight  a  duel  was  a  crime — against 
law,  against  God — yet  they  had  not  the  moral  courage  to  say  so. 

When  General  Arnold  made  his  terrible  march  through  the  wilderness 
from  Maine  to  Canada,  to  attack  Quebec,  in  1776 — his  troops  eating  their 
knapsacks  and  boots  for  want  of  food — one  of  the  officers  accompanying 
lii in  was  Aaron  Burr,  nineteen  years  of  age  [see  "Boys  of  '76"].  He  was 
bold  and  daring,  and  Washington  appointed  him  one  of  his  aids;  but  he 
did  not  stay  long  upon  the  staff,  for  he  disliked  Washington.  He  joined 
General  Lee  and  General  Gates  in  a  scheme  to  have  Washington  deposed 
from  being  Commander-in-chief.  When  the  war  was  over  he  became  a 
lawyer,  and  made  his  home  in  New  York,  and  was  elected  Senator  in  Con- 
gress. He  was  a  candidate  for 
the  Presidency,  and  had  the  same 
number  of  electoral  votes  as  Jef- 
ferson ;  but  there  being  no  choice, 
Congress  elected  him  Vice-Presi- 
dent—  the  Federal  members  of 
Congress,  through  the  influence  of 
Hamilton,  giving  their  votes  for 
Jefferson,  and  making  Burr  Vice- 
President.  It  was 
very  hard  for  him 
to  bear  the  disap- 
pointments of  politi- 
cal ambition.  To  be 
President  was  the 
highest  possible  hon- 
or, and  we  need  not 
wonder  that  Aaron 
Burr  had  a  grudge 
against  the  man  who 
had  upset  his  plans. 
Alexander  Ham- 
ilton was  born  in 
Bermuda,  but  was 
taken  to  New  York 
when  he  was  a  small 
boy. 


MASSIE  S    MONUMENT. 


134 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  X. 


In  1774,  when  lie  was  only  seventeen,  he  made  a  remarkable  speech 
against  the  King.     Tie  wrote  articles  for  the  newspapers,  and  showed  that 
he  was  a  true  patriot.     When  the  war  began  he  was  appointed  to  com- 
mand an  artillery  company,  and 


m 


^ 


AARON    BURR. 


kept  his  cannon  thundering  at 
the  battle  of  White  Plains  [see 
"Boys  of  '76"].  He  fought  at 
Trenton.  Washington  thought 
so  much  of  him  that  he  made 
him  his  trusted  friend  and  ad- 
viser. He  was  in  the  battle  of 
Yorktown,  and  captured  a  Brit- 
ish battery.  When  the  war  was 
over  he  became  a  lawyer.  He 
was  one  of  the  f  ram  ere  of  the 
Constitution,  and  did  more  than 
any  other  man  to  secure  its 
adoption. 

Washington  made  him  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury.  The 
country  was  in  debt,  but  he  thought  out  a  plan  by  which  the  nation  paid 
its  debts  and  brought  great  prosperity.  When  the  trouble  with  France 
began  Washington  was  made  Commander-in-chief;  Hamilton  was  a  major- 
general,  and  second  in  command.  He  was  a  generous  man,  ever  ready  to 
oblige  his  friends,  and  even  those  who  were  opposed  to  him  politically. 
Aaron  Burr  was  in  debt.  Early  one  morning  he  called  at  Hamilton's 
house  in  great  trouble.  He  must  have  ten  thousand  dollars — a  great  sum 
in  those  days — to  satisfy  his  creditors,  or  go  to  jail.  Hamilton  obtained 
the  money  for  him,  and  saved  him  from  arrest. 

Burr  was  Vice-President, but  could  never  hope  to  be  elected  President; 
but  he  determined  to  be  Governor  of  New  York,  and  induced  some  of  his 
friends  to  nominate  him.  The  Federalists  had  no  candidate,  but  cast  their 
votes,  through  the  influence  of  Hamilton,  for  a  Democrat,  Chancellor  Lan- 
sing, who  was  elected. 

"  Burr  is  a  dangerous  man,  and  not  fit  to  be  Governor,"  said  Hamil- 
ton, at  a  dinner-party. 

Doctor  Cooper  was  one  of  the  guests,  and  unwisely  repeated  it  in  pub- 
lic, and  wrote  thus  to  a  friend  :  "  I  could  detail  a  still  more  despicable 
opinion  which  Hamilton  has  of  hi  in."  The  friend  published  the  letter  in 
a  newspaper,  which  was  a  violation  of  confidence. 


1304.] 


OPENING   YEARS   OF  THE   CENTURY. 


135 


Burr  was  smarting  over  bis  defeat.  Hamilton  had  spoiled  all  his  plans. 
lie  would  have  his  revenge.  lie  wrote  a  letter  demanding  an  apology, 
but  would  not  accept  Hamilton's  explanation,  and  sent  a  challenge. 

Cain,  the  first  murderer,  and  all  murderers  since  then,  have  found  a 
way  to  pick  a  quarrel  when  determined  on  revenge.  Hamilton  had  no 
quarrel  with  Burr — why  should  he  accept  the  challenge?  Because,  if  he 
did  not  fight,  people  would  call  him  a  coward.  He  had  proved  at  White 
Plains,  Trenton,  Princeton,  and  Yorktown  that  he  was  a  brave  man  ;  but 
if  he  did  not  meet  Burr  in  single  combat,  and  do  what  his  own  conscience 
and  reason  said  he  had  no  right  to  do,  he  would  be  called  a  coward!  He 
wrote  a  tender  letter  to  his  wife,  and  bought  a  beautiful  bouquet  for  her, 
bade  her  an  affectionate  good-night,  arose  at  daybreak,  stole  softly  out  of 
his  beautiful  home,  walked  down  to  the  river,  stepped  into  a  boat  with  Mr. 
Pendleton  and  a  doctor,  and  was  rowed  across  the  Hudson  to  Weehawken. 
The  sun  was  just  rising  as  he  landed  at  the  foot  of  the  Palisades.  Burr, 
Mr.  Van  Ness,  and  Dr.  Hosack  were  there.  Burr  had  been  practising  with 
his  pistol  for  several  weeks,  determined  to  put  an  end  to  the  man  who  had 
thwarted  him  in  his  ambitious  designs.     They  took  their  pistols. 


T^A 

^3» 


DUEL    BETWEEN    HAMILTON    AND    BURR. 


"Are  you  ready?"  asked  Mr.  Pendleton,  who   was  to  give  the  word. 
"  Present !" 

Burr  raises  his  pistol,  takes  deliberate  aim.     A  flash,  a  puff  of  smoke,  a 


136 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  X. 


crack,  and  Hamilton  falls  headlong,  his  pistol  going  off,  the  ball  cutting  a 
twig  from  a  tree. 

Burr  gazes  a  moment,  then  hastens  with  his  friends  to  his  boat,  reaches 
home,  and  eats  his  breakfast  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 


WHERE    HAMILTON    FELL. 


"I  had  no  ill-will  toward  him  ;  I  did  not  intend  to  fire,'"  are  the  words 
of  Hamilton  as  his  friends  bear  him  to  the  boat. 

"General  Hamilton  teas  shot  oy  Colonel  Burr  this  morning  in  a  duel.  The  genered  is 
said  to  oe  mortally  wounded."1 

That  was  what  the  people  of  Xew  York  read  on  the  bulletin-board  of 
the  Tontine  hotel  at  nine  o'clock.  All  Xew  York  held  its  breath.  Busi- 
ness stopped.  Through  the  day  and  night  men  asked  for  the  latest  news, 
till  death  ended  the  suspense  the  next  afternoon. 

Xever  had  there  been  so  mournful  a  funeral  in  America — stores  closed, 
flags  at  half-mast — a  stately  procession,  minute-guns  firing  at  the  Battery— 
the  British  frigate  and  two  French  war-ships  in  the  harbor  responding  to 
the  guns  on  shore — for  Hamilton's  fame  had  crossed  the  xVtlantic — all 
the  church  bells  tolling.  There  had  been  processions  and  orations  at  the 
burial  of  Washington,  but  this  was  a  funeral  with  indignation  and  anger 
mingled  with  the  grief. 

"Washington's  death  was  by  the  visitation  of  God,  but  Hamilton  had 
been  shot  by  a  man  who  had  thirsted  for  his  blood. 

Little  did  Aaron  Burr,  when  he  sat  down  to  his  breakfast  so  calmly, 
comprehend  what  would  be  the  outcome  of  that  morning's  work  :  that 
before  the  week  was  over  he  would  be  fleeing  to  escape  the  indigna- 
tion of  the  community.     Quite  likely  he  thought  that  the  people  would 


1804.] 


OPENING  YEARS   OF  THE   CENTURY. 


137 


applaud  him  for  killing  the  man  who  stood  in  his  way.  Far  different. 
Murderer !  assassin  !  were  the  words  that  greeted  him.  He  had  shot  the 
man  who  had  opposed  him  politically,  but  who  had  befriended  him  pri- 
vately. His  friends — those  who  had  urged  him  on — slunk  away  before 
the  burning  indignation  of  the  people.  The  wave  went  over  the  country. 
From  the  pulpits  in  the  Northern  States  Burr  was  denounced  as  an  assas- 
sin. Ministers  preached  against  duelling.  Grand-juries  in  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  indicted  him  for  murder.  Sheriffs  were  in  pursuit  of  him. 
At  midnight  he  entered  a  boat,  and  was  rowed  down  the  river  to  Perth 
Amboy.     He  called  upon  Commodore  Truxtnn,  who  gave  him  a  breakfast, 


BLENNKWIASSET  S    HOUSE. 


but  who  told  him  plainly  that  he  had  killed  his  friend.  By  cross-roads  he 
reached  Philadelphia  and  passed  on  to  Virginia — not  there  to  find  averted 
faces,  but  to  be  welcomed  as  one  who  had  done  a  noble  deed. 


13S 


BUILDING   THE   NATIOX. 


[Chap.  X. 


At  Petersburg  his  friends  gave  him  a  banquet,  accompanied  him  to  the 
theatre,  and  the  audience  cheered  him.  He  went  on  to  South  Carolina  to 
see  his  daughter  Theodosia,  wife  of  Governor  Alston.     The  people  of  that 


BURR  S    TROOPS    GOING  DOWN    THE    OHIO. 


section  of  the  country  did  not  regard  him  with  any  less  favor,  for  they  be- 
lieved that  to  fight  a  duel  was  a  good  way  to  vindicate  one's  honor. 

Not  so  in  the  Northern  States.  The  pistol-shot  fired  on  that  morning 
so  fatal  to  Hamilton  was  ringing  through  the  land.  The  Rev. Dr.Nott,  of 
Schenectady,  New  York,  preached  a  notable  sermon  on  the  sin  and  crime 
of  duelling.  Other  ministers  took  it  up.  Editors  wrote  against  it  in  the 
newspapers.  There  was  an  awakening  of  the  moral  sense  of  the  sober- 
minded  and  thinking  people  of  the  Northern  States.  Other  duels  were 
fought ;  but  from  that  June  morning  in  1S04  when  Hamilton  fell,  with 
the  blood  oozing  from  his  side,  men  who  gave  or  accepted  a  challenge, 
instead  of  gaining,  lost  the  respect  of  their  fellow-men. 

Burr's  plans  had  miscarried;  but  he  had  another  scheme.  In  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  and  Ohio  were  restless  men — hunters  and  adventurers — 
who  were  ready  for  any  exploit  or  expedition.  The  resolutions  of  1798, 
which  Thomas  Jefferson  had  written  for  the  Kentucky  Legislature  in  re- 


1805.] 


OPENING  YEARS   OF  THE   CENTURY. 


139 


gard  to  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States  were  having  their  effect.  The 
people  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  in  1805,  cared  very  little  for  the 
Constitution  or  the  Union.  Spain  owned  Mexico.  Burr  conceived  the 
plan  of  descending  the  Mississippi  with  the  restless  spirits,  seize  New 
Orleans,  fit  out  an  expedition,  conquer  that  country,  and  set  himself  up 
as  king.  He  made  friends  with  Mr.  Blennerhasset,  who  had  settled  on 
an  island  in  the  Ohio  River,  who  was  wealthy,  and.  who  had  a  beauti- 
ful and  ambitious  wife,  who  entered  into  all  of  Burr's  plans.  Men 
were  enlisted,  boats  built,  and  the  adventurers  made  their  way  down  the 
river.  General  Wilkinson,  who  had  been  appointed  Governor  of  Louis- 
iana, aided  Burr,  but  in  the  end  deserted  him.  President  Jefferson  issued 
a  proclamation  against  him.  He  was  arrested  and  tried  for  high-treason, 
but  the  jury  did  not  find  him  guilty,  and  he  was  released.  He  became  a 
lawyer  again  in  New  York ;  but  influence,  power,  happiness  were  gone 
forever. 


William  Henry,  who  lived  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  was  very  in- 
genious. He  saw  that  the  au- 
gers used  by  carpenters  —  in 
shape  like  half  of  a  pea -pod, 
and  called  pod  augers  —  were 
very  poor  implements,  and  in- 
vented an  auger  with  a  screw, 
which  made  boring  much  ea- 
sier. He  made  the  first  rag  car- 
pet ever  seen  in  America.  He 
made  gnus,  and  did  a  great  deal 
of  tinkering.  He  heard  about 
the  steam-engines  which  James 
Watt  and  Matthew  Boulton  were 
building  in  England,  and  crossed 
the  Atlantic  to  visit  his  friends 
in  Ireland  and  get  a  look  at  the 
new  and  wonderful  machines 
being  driven  by  steam.  He  came 
home,  built  an  engine,  and  put 

it  into  a  boat  in  Conestoga  Creek,  thinking  to  move  the  boat  by 
but  the  boat  went  to  the  bottom  of  the  creek,  and  he  gave  up  the  ; 

John  Fitch,  James  Rumsey,  of  Virginia;   Samuel  Morey,  of 
New  Hampshire;  William  Symington,  of  England — all  had  tried 


" 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


steam ; 
ittempt. 
Orford, 
to  con- 


140 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  X. 


HUBERT    FULTON  S    BIRTHPLACE. 


struct  steamboats,  but  the  world  was    still  waiting  for  such  a   mode   of 
navigation. 

One  of  the  boys  who  used  to  visit  William  Henry's  shop  and  see  him 
make  guns  was  Robert  Fulton,  who  was  born  in  Little  Britain,  Penn- 
sylvania, near  Lancaster,  and 
who  used  to  set  water-wheels 
whirling  in  the  pasture  brooks. 
He  saw  the  model  of  the  little 
steamboat  which  Mr.  Henry 
constructed.  He  met  Thomas 
Paine  at  Mr.  Henry's,  and  many 
other  prominent  men,  and  saw 
upon  the  walls  of  Mr.  Henry's 
parlor  pictures  painted  by  Ben- 
jamin West,  whom  Mr.  Henry 
had  befriended,  who  had  trav- 
elled in  Europe,  and  had  be- 
come a  famous  painter. 

While  looking  at  the  pict- 
ures Robert  Fulton  forgot  his 
mill-wheels,  and  resolved  to  become  an  artist.  He  went  to  England,  and 
studied  painting  under  Mr.  West's  instruction.  He  saw  the  steam-engines 
constructed  by  Watt  and  Boulton,and  all  his  love  for  machinery  came  back 
to  him.  He  gave  up  painting  and  became  an  engineer,  went  to  Paris,  and 
made  experiments  with  torpedoes  for  blowing  up  war-ships.  He  built  a 
steamboat  sixty-six  feet  long,  launched  it  on  the  Seine ;  but  the  bottom 
dropped  out,  and  the  engine  went  to  the  bottom  of  the  river. 

Fulton  returned  to  the  United  States.  The  grand  idea  had  taken  pos- 
session of  him  that  steam  could  be  used  in  navigation.  Robert  Living- 
ston, Chancellor  of  New  York,  believed  that  it  could  be  done.  He  lived 
at  Clermont,  on  the  Hudson.  Together  they  built  a  boat  133  feet  long, 
18  wide,  and  9  feet  deep,  and  named  it  the  Clermont.  People  laughed  at 
them;  predicted  its  failure.  When  all  was  ready  they  invited  their  friends 
on  board.  Fulton  let  on  the  steam,  but  the  boat  did  not  move. 
"  I  told  you  it  wouldn't  work,"  said  one  of  the  party. 
"  Wait,"  said  Fulton. 

He  fixed  the  machinery,  and  the  boat  moved  away  from  the  shore,  and 
up  the  Hudson.     The  country  people  knew  not  what  to  make  of  it. 

"  The  devil  is  on  his  way  up-river  with  a  saw-mill  in  a  boat!"  shouted 
a  Dutchman  to  his  wife. 


1807.] 


OPENING  YEARS   OF  THE   CENTURY. 


141 


THE    "  CLERMONT." 


In  thirty-two  hours  the  Clermont  was  at  Albany,  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  returned  to  New  York  in  thirty  hours. 

This  was  what  the  New  York  Evening  Post  said,  October  2,  1807: 
"  Mr.  Fulton's  new-invented  steamboat,  which  is  fitted  up  in  a  neat  style  for 
passengers,  and  is  intended  to  run  from  New  York  to  Albany  as  a  packet, 
left  here  this  morning,  with  ninety  passengers,  against  a  strong  head-wind. 
Notwithstanding  which,  it  was  judged  she  moved  at  the  rate  of  six  miles 
an  hour."' 

Fulton  had  succeeded  where  John  Fitch,  James  Rumsey,  and  Samuel 
Morey  had  failed.     It  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  navigation. 


142  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XI. 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

HOW   THERE   CAME   TO   BE   WAR   WITH   ENGLAND. 

TTTHO  owned  the  ocean  ?     Great  Britain  claimed  to  be  mistress  of  the 
*  *     seas.     Her  fleets  were  victorious  everywhere.     The  poets  of  Eng- 
land were  praising  her  prowess.     James  Thomson,  who  wrote  a  charming 
poem, "The  Seasons,'*  wrote  exnltingly  of  her  power: 

"  When  Britain  first,  at  Heaven's  command, 

Arose  from  out  the  azure  main, 
This  was  the  charter  of  the  land, 

And  guardian  angels  sung  the  strain — 
Rule,  Britannia  ;   Britannia  rules  the  waves  ! 
Britons  never  shall  be  slaves.'' 

The  merchants  of  England  wanted  to  do  all  the  carrying  of  the  world,  and 
they  looked  with  jealous  eyes  across  the  Atlantic  to  Xew  England,  whose 
merchant -ships  were  on  every  sea.  England  and  France  were  at  war. 
Bonaparte  was  sweeping  over  Europe  with  his  armies.  England  had  de- 
stroyed not  only  the  war-ships  but  the  merchant-ships  of  France;  and  the 
merchants  of  the  United  States  were  in  consecpience  making  a  great  deal 
of  money.  Great  Britain  was  not  going  to  allow  the  trade  of  the  world  to 
slip  through  her  ringers.  "  Trade  carried  on  with  the  enemies  of  England 
is  war  in  disguise.''  wrote  James  Stephens,  one  of  the  lawyers  of  England  : 
and  the  English  Government,  with  such  a  pretext,  began  to  seize  American 
vessels  and  confiscate  the  goods. 

To  prevent  Bonaparte  from  raising  supplies  from  any  other  country, 
Great  Britain  declared  the  whole  sea-coast  of  Europe,  from  the  river  Elbe, 
in  Prussia,  to  Brest,  in  France,  under  blockade.  To  blockade  a  seaport  is 
to  close  it  to  commerce  by  war-vessels  stationed  off  the  harbors  to  prevent 
merchant-vessels  of  other  nations  from  going  in  and  out. 

"Every  blockade  to  be  binding  must  be  effective" — England  had  de- 
clared it  many  times;  but  though  she  had  one  thousand  war-ships,  they 
were  not  enough  to  blockade  all  the  seaports  of  Northern  Em-ope. 


1812.] 


HOW  THERE   CAME   TO   BE   WAR  WITH   ENGLAND. 


143 


Bonaparte  had  lost  nearly  all  his  fleets,  but  he  issued  a  decree  from 
Berlin  in  retaliation:  "The  British  Islands  are  in  a  state  of  blockade. 
All  commerce  and  correspondence  with  them  is  prohibited.  All  letters 
written  in  the  English  language  shall  be  seized." 

"  There  shall  be  no  trade  between  France  and  her  allies  and  other  na- 
tions without  the  consent  of  Great  Brit- 
ain,"  said   the   British    Government,  in 
response. 

"The  nation  which  permits  its  ves- 
sels to  be  searched  by  British  vessels,  or 
which  shall  pay  a  tax  to  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, or  which  shall  be  bound  to  a 
British  port,  shall  be  seized  and  held," 
was  the  order  issued  by  Bonaparte  from 
Milan,  December,  1807. 

France  began  to  seize  American  ships. 
The  merchants  of  Boston,  Salem,  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore  soon 
began  to  receive   news  that  their  ships 
and  goods  had  been  captured,  either  by 
the  English  or  French.     An  English  war- 
ship, the  Leopard,  fired  into  the  American  ship  Chesapeake,  which  was  all 
unprepared  for  fighting,  and  took  several  sailors,  compelling  them  to  serve 
on  board  the  Leopard.     The  English  Government  disavowed  the  act,  but 
made  no  apology  or  reparation. 

The  United  States  was  powerless  to  protect  American  merchant-ships ; 
but  Congress  thought  that  if  all  trade  between  the  United  States  and  for- 
eign countries  were  stopped,  the  necessities  of  England  and  France  would 
compel  them  to  come  to  terms,  and  a  law  was  passed  laying  an  embargo,  or 
prohibition,  on  trade.  Congress  did  not  see  that  the  United  States  would 
be  biting  off  its  own  nose:  that  American  vessels  would  soon  be  rotting  at 
the  wharves ;  ship-masters  and  merchants  would  become  bankrupt ;  that 
grass  would  grow  in  the  streets  of  the  seaport  towns;  yet  that  was  the  re- 
sult. The  ships  were  idle;  the  merchants  could  not  pay  their  debts — the 
sheriffs  closed  their  stores;  sailors  had  nothing  to  do;  ship-carpenters  laid 
aside  their  axes,  the  calkers  and  sail-makers  their  tools.  In  all  seaport 
towns  there  was  silence  and  distress. 

In  the  country,  on  the  other  hand,  the  spinning-wheels  were  humming 
as  never  before — women  and  girls  at  work  from  morning  till  night.  In- 
stead of  depending  upon  England  for  cloth,  the}'  were  manufacturing  it. 


JAMKa    MADISON. 


144  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XL 

All  the  arts  and  trades  were  at  work — hatters,  shoemakers,  tailors.  It  was 
the  period  of  homespun — the  beginning  of  American  manufacturing.  Con- 
gress had  prohibited  the  bringing  of  British  goods,  but  the  President  and 
a  great  army  of  custom-house  officials  could  not  stop  smuggling.  Swift- 
sailing  vessels  made  voyages  to  the  West  Indies,  landing  their  goods  at 
night  along  the  shores.  There  was  smuggling  between  Canada  and  the 
United  States  —  men  making  their  way  stealthily  across  the  boundary, 
bringing  broadcloth,  needles,  pins,  goods  of  every  description — secreting 
them  in  out-of-the-way  places,  eluding  the  vigilance  of  the  custom-house 
officers. 

An  officer  in  Vermont  had  a  prank  played  upon  him.  A  smuggler 
came  from  Canada  with  a  cask  standing  on  end  in  his  wagon. 

"  Ho !  ho !  I  must  see  what  is  in  there,"  said  the  officer,  pounding  in 
the  head. 

There  was  nothing  but  a  little  lampblack  in  the  cask,  which  the  smug- 
gler had  covered  with  a  paper. 

"  What  have  you  here  ?"  asked  the  officer. 

"You  must  see  for  yourself." 

The  officer  puts  his  head  into  the  cask,  the  smuggler  gives  a  sudden  lift 
to  his  heels,  and  he  tumbles  in.  Over  the  stones  rattles  the  wagon,  the 
driver  whipping  his  horse  to  a  run — the  bumping  and  rattling  raising  a 
black,  suffocating  cloud  in  the  cask,  filling  eyes,  nose,  ears,  and  mouth  of 
the  officer,  and  almost  stifling  him  before  he  can  get  out. 

People  in  the  seaports  were  suffering,  people  in  the  country  prosper- 
ing, under  the  law.  Those  who  suffered  felt  it  to  be  an  unjust  law.  The 
smugglers  excused  themselves  under  the  plea  that  the  law  was  unjust  and 
unconstitutional,  because  unequal :  that  it  was  not  doing  wrong  to  violate 
it.  The  prospect  of  making  money  made  men  deceitful.  The  law,  upon 
the  whole,  was  not  promotive  of  public  welfare  or  morality,  and  became 
very  unpopular.     It  injured  far  more  than  it,  helped. 

In  1808  James  Madison  became  President.  The  Indians  in  Ohio  were 
making  trouble.  British  officers  in  Canada  and  of  the  North-west  Fur 
Company  told  them  that  the  United  States  had  no  right  to  the  lands  in 
Ohio.  They  sold  them  guns  and  ammunition.  One  of  the  Indian  chiefs 
was  Tecumtha,  who  saw  that  the  Americans  were  rapidly  increasing,  and 
unless  driven  back  would  soon  have  possession  of  the  whole  country.  He 
formed  a  plan  to  enlist  all  the  tribes,  and  drive  the  settlers  out  of  Ohio. 
He  visited  the  powerful  Creek  Indians  in  Alabama,  made  speeches,  and 
tauffht  them  the  war-dance  of  the  northern  tribes. 


1812.] 


HOW   THERE  CAME   TO   BE   WAR    WITH   ENGLAND. 


145 


Florida  belonged  to  Spain,  and  the  Creek  Indians  could  obtain  powder 
and  guns  at  Pensacola.  They  were  to  attack  the  settlers  in  Tennessee  and 
Georgia,  and  drive  them  eastward  of  the  mountains.  Tecnmtha  was  a 
great,  man,  but  lie  did  not  compre- 
hend the  force  of  an  advancing  civil- 
ization, lie  had  a  brother,  Elks-wa- 
ta-wa,  who  called  himself  a  prophet, 
sent  by  the  Great  Spirit.  Tecnmtha 
made  speeches,  and  the  prophet  and 
the  British  did  all  they  could  to  stir 
up  the  Indians  against  the  Americans. 

General  William  Henry  Harrison 
was  appointed  Governor  of  Indiana, 
and  built  a  fort  at  Terra  Haute, 
which  was  named  Fort  Harrison. 
The  Indians  had  a  town  of  their  own 
on  the  Wabash.  General  Harrison 
inarched  with  nine  hundred  men  ; 
but,  remembering  how  other  gener- 
als had  fallen  into  traps,  kept  his  vi- 
dettes  always  in  advance,  and  guards 
on  both  flanks.  He  was  so  vigilant  that  the  Indians,  who  knew  of  his  ad- 
vance, said  that  he  slept  with  his  eyes  open.  The  woods  were  thick  with 
Indians.     Tecnmtha   was    in    Georgia,  trying  to  arouse   the   Creeks,  and 


TECUMTHA. 


FORT   HARRISON. 


10 


116 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XI. 


Elks-wa-ta-wa  was  managing  things.  lie  sent  a  messenger  to  General 
Harrison  asking;  for  a  parley.  They  would  have  a  talk  the  next  morning". 
The  army  went  into  camp  in  a  beautiful  grove  at  Tippecanoe. 

";  Creep  through  the  grass,  tomahawk  the  sentinels,  then  rush  upon 
the  camp,"  said  Elks-wa-ta-wa  to  the  seven  hundred  warriors. 

It  is  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  November  7, 1811.  Stephen  Mars, 
one  of  General  Harrison's  sentinels,  sees  something  in  the  grass.  Crack ! 
goes  his  rifle,  and  an  Indian  leaps  into  the  air.  Then  comes  the  war- 
whoop,  a  flashing  of  guns,  and  a  rush  upon  the  camp.  In  an  instant 
General  Harrison  is  in  his  saddle.  At  the  north-west  corner  of  the  camp 
Captain  Joe  Davis  falls   mortally  wounded.      At  the   south-west   corner 


TIPPECANOE    BATTLE-GROUND. 


Captain  Spencer  is  killed,  and  Lieutenant  Warrick  mortally  wounded. 
The  Indians  are  attacking  on  all  sides. 

"Hold  your  ground;  we  will  beat  them!"  shouts  General  Harrison. 

"  Charge !" 

The  soldiers  rushed  upon  the  Indians  with  a  yell,  driving  them  from 
their  hiding-places;  chasing  them  like  deer  through  the  woods.  General 
Harrison  pushed  on  to  the  prophet's  town  ;  but  not  an  Indian  was  to  be 
seen — all  had  fled.  In  a  few  minutes  the  flames  licked  up  every  hut  and 
wigwam,  and  all  the  corn  which  had  been  stored  for  the  winter.  It  was 
a  defeat  from  which  the  Indians  never  recovered. 


1812.] 


HOW   THERE   CAME   TO   BE   WAR   WITH  ENGLAND. 


147 


England  and  France  were  still  seizing  American  vessels.  England 
had  taken  nine  hundred  and  seventeen,  and  France  five  hundred  and 
fifty-eight.     The  loss  to  Americans  was  reckoned  at  $70,000,000. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  were  becoming  very  angry,  but  were 
divided  in  opinion.  Some  wanted  to  go  to  war  with  both  England  and 
France,  others  with  England  only ;  and  there  were  others  who  were 
opposed  to  going  to  war  at  all. 

"  Why  go  to  war  with  England,"  they  asked,  "  when  we  have  only 
twenty  vessels  in  our  navy  against  her  one  thousand  ?  You  cannot  cope 
with  her  on  the  ocean.  She  can  burn  our  seaports,  and  ravage  the  coast 
from  Maine  to  Georgia." 

"  If  honor  demands  a  war 
with  England,  what  opiate  lulls 
that  honor  to  sleep  over  the 
wrongs  done  us  by  France  ?" 
asked  Josiah  Quincy,  Senator 
from  Massachusetts,  one  of  the 
ablest  men  in  Congress. 

"  England,"  replied  those 
who  were  eager  for  war,  "  is 
arrogant  and  insulting.  She 
seizes  our  ships,  and  impresses 
our  sailors.  She  is  stirring  up 
the  Indians  of  the  North-west 
to  murder  the  settlers  of  Ohio 
and  Indiana.  To  submit  to 
such  insolence  and  wrong  is  to 
humiliate  ourselves.  If  we  can- 
not meet  her  on  the  ocean  we 
can  capture  Canada.  There  are  less  than  four  hundred  thousand  people 
in  those  provinces,  against  seven  millions  in  the  United  States." 

"  Weak  as  we  are,"  said  Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky,  "  we  can  light 
England  and  France  both,  if  necessary,  in  a  good  cause — the  cause  of 
honor  and  independence." 

"In  your  zeal,"  shouted  John  Randolph  of  Virginia,  in  opposition, 
"  to  serve  your  French  master  you  are  ready  to  create  a  national  debt  by 
rushing  into  a  wicked  war  with  a  fraternal  people — fraternal  in  blood, 
religion,  laws,  arts,  and  literature." 

Most  of  the  members  of  Congress  from  the  Southern  States  were 
eager  for  war  with  England,  but  not  with  France.     John  Randolph  had 


JOSIAH    QUINCY. 


148 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XI. 


something  to  say  about  what  the  effect  of  war  would  be  on  the  slaves — 
that  it  would  bring  insurrection. 

"  The  negroes,"  he  said,  "  are  rapidly  gaining  notions  of  freedom, 
destructive  alike  to  their  own  happiness  and  the  safety  and  interests  of 
their  masters.  The  night-bell  never  tolls  for  fire  in  Richmond  that  the 
frightened  mother  does  not  hug  her  infant  more  closely  to  her  bosom, 
not  knowing  what  may  have  happened." 

"Which  shall  we  do,"  asked  John  C.  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina — 
"abandon  or  defend  our  commercial  and  maritime  rights,  and  the  per- 
sonal liberties  of  our  citizens  in  exercising  them  ?  These  rights  are 
attacked,  and  war  is  the  only  means  of  redress." 

The  majority  of  Congress  and  of  the  people  were  for  war  with  Eng- 
land, but  not  with  France.  England  was  the  chief  aggressor,  because  she 
was  mistress  of  the  seas.  The  old  feeling  against  her  had  not  died  out, 
and  there  was  still  a  kindly  feeling  toward  France  for  the  help  which  she 
had  given  during  the  Revolution.  There  was  a  determination,  let  the 
issue  be  what  it  might,  to  fight  for  the  rights  of  American  sailors  and 
for  free  commerce  on  the  ocean. 

President  Madison  did  not  want  to  go  to  war,  but  he  desired  to  be 
elected  President  a  second  time.  His  friends,  who  were  eager  for  war, 
informed  him  that  unless  he  went  with  the  majority  he  could  not  be 
re-elected.  With  closed  doors  the  bill  proposing  war  was  discussed.  It 
was  passed  in   secret  session,  and  on  June  10,  1S12,  President  Madison 

affixed  his  signature,  and  issued 
a  proclamation  declaring  war 
against  Great  Britain. 

The  United  States  had  been 
a  nation  just  twenty-five  years. 
The  Constitution  made  the  States 
a  nation  ;  but  it  had  as  yet  no 
background  of  history,  illumi- 
nated by  noble  deeds,  to  fire  the 
hearts  of  the  people.  In  senti- 
ment the  United  States  were  not 
a  nation.  The  people  of  the  sev- 
eral States  had  no  particular  love 
for  the  Union ;  they  had  done 
nothing  for  it,  and  had  little  com- 
prehension of  what  it  had  done 
or  could  do  for  them.     Hardship, 


WILLIAM    HULL. 


1812.] 


HOW  THERE   CAME   TO   BE   WAR  WITH   ENGLAND. 


149 


STATES    AND    TERRITORIES    IN    THE    SOUTH    AND   WEST — 1812. 


trial,  suffering,  self-sacrifice,  performance  of  glorious  deeds — these  bind  us 
to  one  another.  Love  of  country,  patriotism  —  the  grand  ideal  which 
makes  country  above  everything  else  —  had  not  yet  sprung  up  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people. 

President  Madison  had  a  weak  Cabinet.     He  appointed  incompetent 
men  to  responsible  positions.     William  Hull  was  appointed  Governor  of 


150 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XI. 


Territory — only  about  five 
hundred  at  Detroit,  and 
a  few  hundred  scattered 
along  the  shore  of  Lake 
Erie.  The  country  all  the 
way  from  Central  Ohio  to 
Detroit  was  a  wilderness. 
At  the  time  war  was  de- 
clared General  Hull  was 
cutting  a  road  from  the 
present  town  of  Fremont 
to  Toledo. 

"  Hasten  to  Detroit, 
and  await  orders,"  was 
the  word  sent  to  him  by 
the  Secretary  of  War  on 
the  morning  of  the  day  on 
which  war  was  declared. 
Why  did  not  the  Secretary 
inform  him  that  it  was  to  be 
declared  ?  It  was  a  blun- 
der—  the  first  brick  that 
^ssg^Cif  set  many  others  tumbling 
in  the  wrong  direction. 
War  has   been  declared,"   wrote  the   Secretary.      He   sent  the  first 


1812.] 


HOW  THERE   CAME   TO   BE   WAR  WITH  ENGLAND. 


151 


order  by  a  special  messenger ;  but  this  he  put  into  the  post-office.  There 
were  no  railroads  then,  and  it  took  two  weeks  for  the  letter  to  reach 
Cleveland  ;  and  the  postmaster  there  had  to  send  it  by  a  messenger  to 
General  Hull,  who  had  reached  Maumee  River,  and  had  put  his  baggage 
and  the  muster-roll  of  his  troops  on  board  the  schooner  Cuyahoga,  which 
set  sail  for  Detroit.     But  the  vessel  did  not  reach  Detroit. 

Sir  George  Prevost  was  Governor  of  Canada.  He  was  expecting  war. 
The  great  North-western  Fur  Company  of  Canada  was  expecting  it,  and 
had  wide-awake  agents  in  New  York,  who  sent  a  swift  messenger  to 
Canada  with  the  news ;  and  General  Proctor,  who  was  opposite  Detroit, 
heard  that  war  had  begun  several  days  before  the  letter  sent  to  Cleveland 
reached  General  Hull.  The  Cuyahoga  sailed  up  Detroit  River,  when  out 
came  a  British  vessel  from  Fort  Maiden  and  captured  it.  The  British, 
having  the  start  in  the  reception  of  the  news,  sent  soldiers  to  Mackinaw, 
at  the  head  of  Lake  Huron,  and  captured  the  United  States  soldiers 
there. 

Tecumtha  was  with  the  British.  His  time  had  come.  Not  the  Indians 
alone,  but  the  British  also,  were  at  war  with  the  United  States — and  he 
fondly  hoped  the  Americans  would  soon  be  pushed  back  south  of  the  Ohio. 


FORT    DEARBORN — 1812. 


General  Hull  sent  a  messenger  through  the  woods  to  Captain  Heald, 
commanding  Fort  Dearborn,  at  Chicago,  advising  him  to  abandon  the 
place.  He  had  only  sixty-six  men.  There  were  several  women  and  chil- 
dren in  the  fort.  When  ho  attempted  to  leave  the  Indians  fell  upon 
him,  killing  the  women  and  children,  and  more  than  thirty  of  the  men. 


152 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XL 


General  Hull  had  one  thousand  volunteers  from  Ohio.  They  knew 
nothing  of  military  discipline.  They  did  not  like  restraint.  Their  officers 
were  of  their  own  election.  One  whom  they  did  not  like  they  rode  upon 
a  rail;  but  they  were  eager  to  be  led  into  Canada.  General  Hull  crossed 
Detroit  River,  stayed  a  few  days,  but  went  back  again,  waiting  for  Colonel 
Brush,  who  was  on  his  way  from  Toledo  with  supplies.  Colonel  Brush 
was  afraid  that  the  Indians  would  fall  upon  him,  and  sent  to  General  Hull 
for  an  escort.     Major  Van  Horn  started  with  two  hundred  men.     General 


MAGUAGA    BATTLE-GKOCND. 


Proctor,  seeing  his  opportunity,  crossed  the  river,  with  Tecumtha,  from 
Fort  Maiden,  which  is  eighteen  miles  below  Detroit,  and  Major  Van  Horn 
had  to  return  to  Detroit. 

Lieutenant-colonel  Miller  started  with  his  regiment  and  two  cannon. 
He  reached  a  piece  of  oak  woods  at  Maguaga,  where  he  was  attacked  by 
over  one  hundred  British  under  Major  Mnir,  and  live  hundred  Indians  un- 
der Tecumtha  and  the  chiefs  Walk-in-the-water,  Lame  Hand,  and  Split  Los:. 

Colonel  Miller  was  a  brave  man.  He  formed  his  men,  and  opened  fire 
with    his    cannon.     "  Give   them   grape !"    he    cried   to   the    artillerymen. 


1812.] 


HOW   THERE   CAME    TO   BE   WAR   WITH  ENGLAND. 


153 


"  Charge !"  he  shouted,  and  his  men  dashed  upon  the  British,  and  then 
upon  the  Indians,  driving  them  through  the  woods.  Colonel  Miller  lost 
eighteen  killed  and  fifty-seven  wounded,  but  he  won  the  battle. 

"Return  to  Detroit,"  was  the  strange,  incomprehensible  order  which 
General  Hull  sent  to  Miller.  lie  had  opened  the  way  to  meet  Colonel 
Brush,  but  now  he  was  ordered  back,  and  must  obey.  Why  General  Hull 
issued  the  order  no  one  ever  knew. 

General  Brock,  the  Lieutenant-governor  of  Canada,  arrived  at  Fort  Mai- 
den. He  was  Proctor's  superior,  brave  and  energetic.  He  planted  a  bat- 
tery opposite  Detroit,  and  opened  fire  upon  the  fort  with  eighteen-pounder 
cannon.  General  Hull  seemed  to  lose  all  heart.  The  officers  and  soldiers 
had  no  confidence  in  him.  He  allowed  General  Brock  to  cross  the  river 
with  his  army,  when  he  might  have  knocked  the  boats  into  kindling-wood 
with  his  cannon.  Seven  hundred  British  troops  and  seven  hundred  In- 
dians crossed  at  night,  took  breakfast,  then  marched  toward  the  fort.  The 
Americans  were  eager  for  battle.  They  had  twenty-five  cannon,  one  hun- 
dred thousand  musket  cartridges,  and 
a  strong  fort.  They  numbered  one 
thousand,  and  were  ready  to  fight  to 
the  last.  The  cannon  were  charged 
with  grape-shot.  All  was  ready, 
when  General  Hull  ordered  a  white 
flag  to  be  raised,  and  sent  an  officer 
with  a  note  to  General  Brock,  offer- 
ing to  surrender.  The  officers  and 
•  soldiers  beheld  it  in  amazement. 
The\'  knew  not  what  to  make  of  it. 
Duncan  M' Arthur,  who  had  explored 
in  1791  the  Ohio  country,  with  Na- 
thaniel Massie,  was  so  vexed  at  the 
conduct  of  General  Hull  that  he 
could  not  refrain  from  tears.  Colo- 
nel Lewis  Cass  broke  his  sword. 
"The  British  never  shall  have  it!"  he  indignantly  exclaimed. 

Some  of  the  soldiers  were  ready  to  shoot  General  Hull,  who  stood 
before  them  weak,  trembling,  and  irresolute. 

The  deed  was  done.  Cannon,  troops,  supplies,  and  everything  in  the 
fort,  with  Colonel  Brush's  command  at  Toledo,  were  included  in  the  sur- 
render. 

The  war  had  begun  in  disgraceful  humiliation.     Instead  of  capturing 


DUNCAN    STARTHUR. 


154 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XI. 


Canada,  the  north  -  western 
army  was  lost,  and  the  whole 
country  beyond  the  Ohio  set- 
tlements was  in  possession  of 
the  British,  and  open  to  the 
ravages  of  the  Indians. 

"  Coward !  traitor !"  Those 
were  the  words  hurled  at  Gen- 
eral Hull,  who  was  tried  by 
court-martial  and  sentenced  to 
be  shot;  but  President  Madi- 
son was  tender -hearted,  and 
pardoned  him,  for  he  had  done 
good  service  in  the  Revolution. 
Seventy  years  have  passed  since 
then,  and  we  now  see  that  he 
was  not  a  traitor.  During  the 
Revolution  he  showed  that  he  was  not  a  coward.  lie  could  not  bear  the 
thought  of  bloodshed — the  possible  tomahawking  and  scalping  of  the  men, 
women,  and  children.  He  was  weak,  irresolute,  and  incompetent;  and  the 
result  was  disaster,  humiliation,  and  disgrace. 

There  was  a  second  disaster  at  Frenchtown  (now  Monroe,  Michigan), 


LEWIS    CASS. 


MONROE,   FROM    THE    JSATTLE-GROUND. 


1812.] 


HOW  THERE   CAME  TO   BE  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND. 


157 


SOLOMON    VAN    RENSSELAER. 


ground. 


when  one  thousand  men  under 
General  Winchester  surrendered 
to  the  British  general,  Proctor, 
who  allowed  the  Indians  to 
tomahawk  and  scalp  many  of 
the  prisoners. 

That  was  not  the  end  of  dis- 
aster. General  Van  Rensselaer, 
commanding;  at  Niagara, "a  true 
patriot  and  brave,  was  anxious  to 
strike  a  blow  which  would  wipe 
out  the  disgrace  of  Hull's  sur- 
render. To  do  it  he  must  cross 
the  deep  and  foaming  Niagara 
River,  climb  the  steep  banks  on 
the  Canada  side  in  the  darkness 
of  night,  gain  a  foothold,  and 
defeat  the  British  on  their  own 
His  soldiers  wrere  eager  for  the  enterprise.  He  had  only  thir- 
teen boats,  and  those  might  be  swamped  in  the  whirlpools  and  eddies. 

Colonel    Solomon   Van   Rensse- 
laer   commanded   the   militia, 

and  Lieutenant-colonel  Winfield 

Scott  the  regulars. 

It  was  the  13th  of  October, 

and  a  terrible  storm  was  raging; 

but  at  midnight  six  hundred  men 

crept    silently    down    the    steep 

bank  on  the  American  side,  but 

the  boats  could  carry  only  half. 

The    three    hundred    embarked. 

In  ten  minutes  they  were  on  the 

rocks  at  the  foot  of  the  bluff  on 

the  Canadian  side.     The  British 

sentinels  saw   them,  and  began 

to  fire.     Then  the  cannon  began 

to  thunder;   but  the  Americans 

climbed  the  bank,  and  the  battle 

begun.    Colonel  Van  Rensselaer, 

Captain  John  E.  Wool,  and  sev- 


JOHN    BRANT. 


158  BUILDING   THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XL 

eral  other  officers  were  wounded,  but  they  drove  the  British.  General 
Brock,  who  commanded  them,  fell  mortally  wounded  ;  but  General 
Sheafe  rallied  them,  and  re-enforcements  came — John  Brant,  a  young 
Indian  chief,  with  li is  face  painted  and  plumes  in  his  cap.  lie  was  a 
son  of  John  Brant,  who  had  fought  for  the  British  during  the  Revolu- 
tion. He  commanded  several  hundred  Indians,  who  came  down,  with  a 
yell,  through  the  woods.  Now  the  British  outnumbered  the  Americans 
two  to  one. 

The  Americans  were  fighting  bravely,  but  must  have  help  or  be  de- 
feated. On  the  New  York  shore  were  more  than  one  thousand  militia, 
and  General  Van  Rensselaer  ordered  them  to  cross ;  but  they  refused  to  go, 
nor  had  he  any  authority  to  compel  them.  Why?  Because  in  17S7  the 
people  of  the  United  States  had  adopted  a  written  Constitution,  and  that 
Constitution  had  put  it  forever  beyond  the  power  of  the  President  to  call 
upon  the  militia  to  invade  a  foreign  country. 

If  the  British  were  to  set  foot  on  American  soil  the  militia  would  fight 
them,  but  they  would  not  cross  the  river  and  invade  Canada;  and  so  it 
came  about  that  all  who  had  crossed  were  obliged  to  surrender  to  the 
British.  It  was  a  disheartening  disaster,  but  gave  the  country  a  new 
view  of  the  meaning  and  power  of  the  Constitution,  and  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  men  who  had  framed  it. 

General  Smyth,  of  Virginia,  succeeded  General  Van  Bensselaer.  He 
was  weak,  vain,  pompons,  and  issued  ridiculous  proclamations  setting  forth 
the  great  things  he  intended  to  do;  but  he  did  almost  nothing,  and  was 
laughed  at  alike  by  the  British  and  by  his  own  countrymen. 

On  the  land  the  year  be^an  and  ended  in  disaster.  * 


1812.] 


VICTOEIES  ON  THE   SEA. 


159 


CHAPTER   XII. 


VICTORIES    ON    THE    SEA. 


^T^HE  United  States  had  twenty  vessels — the  largest  carrying  forty-four 
-*-  guns.  Great  Britain  had  one  thousand  and  sixty  vessels  in  her  navy, 
some  of  them  carrying  one  hundred  and  twenty  guns.  The  newspapers 
of  London  ridiculed  the  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  said  that  the 
ships  were  pine-board  boxes,  while  the  British  vessels  were  built  of  Eng- 
lish oak.  On  the  ocean  war  began,  as  on  the  land,  with  disaster  to  the 
United  States.  The  brig  JVautilus,  of  fourteen  guns,  sailed  from  New 
York,  and  the  next  day  was  captured  by  the  British  frigate  Shannon. 
The  United  States  now  had 
nineteen  vessels,  England  one 
thousand  and  sixty- one,  and 
came  very  near  adding  the 
Constitution  to  her  list. 

It  was  off  Nantucket,  at 
sunrise  on  a  summer's  morn- 
ing, not  a  breath  ruffling  the 
ocean,  when  Captain  Isaac  Hull 
discovered  a  British  fleet — 
eleven  ships  in  all.  He  could 
not  h'glit  them ;  he  must  creep 
away — but  how? 

"  Down  with  the  boats  !" 
was  his  order;  and  the  sailors, 
leaping  into  the  boats,  rowed 
ahead,  with  ropes  running  out 
from  beneath  the  bowsprit. 

The  Shannon  was  the  nearest  British   ship.      Her   sides  flamed,  her 
guns  roared,  but  the  shot  fell  harmlessly  into  the  sea. 


160  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XII. 

"How  deep  is  the  water?"  asked  Captain  Hull. 

"  Twenty  fathoms,"  answered  the  sailing-master. 

"Out  with  the  kedge-anehor !"  A  boat  carries  an  anchor  with  a  rope 
attached  half  a  mile  ahead,  drops  it  into  the  sea,  and  then  the  sailors  on 
the  Constitution  go  round  the  windlass  upon  the  run.  Commodore  Broke 
discovers  that  the  Constitution  is  surging  ahead,  and  signals  the  other 
ships  to  send  their  boats  to  help  tow  the  Shannon.  He  sends  out  his 
kedo;e-anchor.  Then  comes  a  little  breeze,  filling  the  sails  of  all  the  ves- 
sels ;  but  it  dies  away,  and  the  sea  is  smooth ;  and  now  all  through  the 
day,  through  the  night,  the  race  goes  on — the  Shannon  and  Guerriere 
pulling  with  all  their  might. 

The  master-mechanic,  when  he  laid  the  keel  of  the  Constitution /  the 
wood-choppers  of  Allenstown,  on  the  banks  of  the  Merrimac,  in  New 
Hampshire,  where  they  felled  the  giant  oaks;  the  carpenters  who  hewed 
the  timbers,  little  thought  how  glorious  would  be  the  history  of  the  Con- 
stitution. This  wTas  its  beginning — a  race  with  eleven  vessels  trying  to 
catch  her — a  hare  with  the  hounds  upon  her  track.  Brave  men  stand 
upon  her  deck.  Every  pulse  beats  high.  The  shot  from  the  Shannon 
do  not  reach  them.  They  are  holding  their  own.  Three  cheers  ring  out 
as  they  whirl  the  windlass  and  pull  at  the  oars.  All  day,  all  night,  till 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day,  the  race  goes  on,  when 
the  Shannon,  instead  of  being  within  cannon-shot,  is  four  miles  astern. 
Dark  clouds  sweep  up  in  the  western  sky. 

"In  with  the  studding-sails!  Down  with  the  top-gallants!"  This  the 
order;  and  when  the  storm  bursts  the  Constitution,  trim  and  taut,  .but 
under  a  great  white  cloud  of  canvas,  sweeps  away,  and  the  hounds  give 
up  the  chase. 

"  Free  trade  and  sailors'  rights." 

That  was  the  motto  which  Captain  Porter  put  upon  the  flag  of  the 
Essex  as  he  sailed  out  of  the  harbor  of  New  York.  On  August  13  the 
sailors  at  the  mast-head  on  the  lookout  discovered  a  vessel,  which  came 
down  upon  the  Essex  with  all  sail  set.  It  was  the  Alert,  carrying  twenty 
guns,  which  poured  a  broadside  into  the  Essex /  but  the  next  moment 
there  was  such  a  crashing  of  timbers  around  them  that  the  British  sailors 
fled  in  terror  to  find  shelter  in  the  hold,  and  the  captain  of  the  Alert, 
seeing  what  terrible  havoc  was  going  on,  pulled  down  his  Hag. 

The  Constitution  was  off  Newfoundland. 

"  Sail  ho  !." 

The  sailors  at  the  mast-head  shouted  it.  There  it  was — a  white  speck 
far  away. 


'■'  I'M 


1812.] 


VICTORIES   ON   THE   SEA. 


1G3 


"  The  Guerriere  /"  sliont  the  sailors  on  the  vessel's  approach.  Captain 
Hull  is  delighted.  The  Constitution  and  Guerriere  each  carry  forty-four 
guns.  Captain  Hull  and  Captain  Dacres,  commanding  the  Guerriere,  are 
old  acquaintances.  Before  the 
war  began  they  drank  a  glass 
of  wine  together. 

"  If  there  should  be  war 
you  must  take  care  of  the 
Guerriere,  if  I  should  come 
across  her  in  the  Constitu- 
tion" said  Captain  Hull. 

"  I'll  bet  you  any  amount 
you  please  that  you  will  be 
whipped,"  said  Dacres. 

"  I  do  not  care  to  bet  mon- 
ey— let  it  be  a  hat." 

"All  right." 

The  two  friends  parted,  but 
thus  again  to  meet,  each  in 
the  service  of  his  country  :  one 
the  representative  of  the  na- 
tion which  proudly  asserts  superiority  as  mistress  of  the  seas — a  nation 
whose  fleets  have  annihilated  the  fleets  of  France  and  Spain ;  the  other 
the  representative  of  a  nation  without  a  history — which  has  but  nineteen 
vessels  in  its  navy — which  never  yet  has  exhibited  its  pluck  or  prowess 
in  warfare  with  a  civilized  nation. 

The  Guerriere,  as  if  to  assert  her  superiority,  flings  out  a  flag  from 
each  top-mast.     When  far  away  her  guns  flash,  but  the  balls  fall  short. 

"Double-shot  the  guns!"  Captain  Hull  gives  the  order,  and  the  sailors 
ram  home  the  thirty-two-pound  balls,  with  a  charge  of  grape-shot,  in  each 
cannon. 

The  cannon  of  the  Guerriere  open  once  more. 

"Not  a  cannon  is  to  be  fired  till  I  give  the  word,"  is  Captain  Hull's 
order. 

The  shot  of  the  Guerriere  is  tearing  into  the  Constitution. 

"May  we  not  open  fire?"  Lieutenant  Morris  asks. 

"  Not  yet," 

Another  broadside  crashes  into  the  timbers  of  the  Constitution.  The 
sailors  are  impatient.  It  is  hard  to  stand  silent  and  motionless  by  the 
double-shotted  cannon,  with  the  splinters  flying,  the  balls  tearing  every- 


JAMES    DACRES. 


164  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XII. 

thing  to  pieces  around  them,  and  not  be  allowed  to  fire.  Captain  Hull 
stands  upon  the  quarter-deck,  calmly  waiting  till  every  gun  will  bear. 
It  is  the  fashion  of  the  times  to  wear  tight  pantaloons,  and  his  are  very 
tight. 

"  Xow,  boys,  jam  it  into  them!"  Every  sailor  hears  the  order 
shouted  at  the  top  of  his  voice.  He  has  been  cool  and  collected,  but 
now  he  is  on  fire.  In  the  energy  and  excitement  of  the  moment  the 
captain  bends  low,  and  the  tight-fitting  pantaloons  split  from  waistband 
to  knee. 

"Hull  her!  Hull  her!"  Lieutenant  Morris  shouts  it;  and  the  sailors 
— comprehending  the  play  upon  words,  that  they  are  to  do  to  the 
Guerriere  what  their  captain  has  done  to  his  pantaloons — spring  to  their 
work  with  a  hurrah !  keeping  up  a  continual  roar  of  thunder  from  the 
double-shotted  guns. 

Twenty  minutes,  and  the'  Guerriere  is  a  helpless  wreck— every  mast 
gone,  gaping  rents  in  her  sides,  her  cannon  silent. 

Lieutenant  Read  goes  on  board. 

"  Captain  Hull's  compliments,  and  he  wishes  to  know  if  you  have 
struck  your  flag  ?" 

"  Well,  as  my  mizzen  and  main  masts  are  gone,  Mre  may  say,  upon  the 
whole,  that  we  have,"  said  Captain  Dacres. 

';  I  will  not  take  your  sword."  said  Captain  Hull,  when  Captain  Dacres 
stood  before  him,  "  but  I  will  trouble  you  for  that  hat." 

The  Guerriere  was  filling  with  water,  and  was  such  a  wreck  that  Cap- 
tain Hull,  after  tenderly  caring  for  the  wounded  and  removing  the  men, 
set  her  on  fire.  When  the  fire  reached  the  magazine  a  great  wave  of 
flame  shot  into  the  air,  lifting  remains  of  masts,  spars,  cannon,  anchors, 
ropes,  and  chains,  which  rained  down  into  the  sea,  and  all  that  was  left 
of  the  Guerriere  disappeared  forever. 

What  commotion  there  wTas  in  Boston,  August  30,  when  the  Consti- 
tution sailed  into  the  harbor!  The  shopkeepers  putting  up  their  shutters; 
the  people  thronging  from  their  houses  down  to  the  wharves  ;  cannon 
thundering  a  salute ;  ladies  waving  handkerchiefs  from  the  windows ; 
men  and  boys  shouting  themselves  hoarse.  It  was  not  only  that  the 
Guerriere  had  been  annihilated,  but  England  was  no  longer  to  have  things 
all  her  own  way  on  the  sea — no  longer  to  claim  undisputed  ownership  of 
the  ocean.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  vindication  of  right  and  justice 
for  the  people  of  the  United  States  and,  through  them,  for  the  rest  of 
mankind.  Everywhere  there  were  rejoicings — dinners  to  Captain  Hull 
and  his  officers — six  hundred  people  sitting  down  to  a  grand  banquet  in 


1812.] 


VICTORIES   ON   THE   SEA. 


167 


Boston.     That  city,  and  also  New  York,  presented  him  with  swords  and 
snuffboxes.     Rustic  poets  set  themselves  to  writing  songs : 

"  Isaac  did  so  maul  and  rake  her, 
That  the  decks  of  Captain  Dacre 
Were  in  such  a  woful  pickle 
As  if  Death,  with  scythe  and  sickle, 
With  his  sling  or  with  his  shaft, 
Had  cut  his  harvest  fore  and  aft ; 
Thus,  in  thirty  minutes,  ended 
Mischief  that  could  not  be  mended ; 
Masts  and  yards  and  ship  descended 
All  to  David  Jones's  locker — 
Such  a  ship  in  such  a  pucker !" — Old  Song. 

The  sloop-of-war  Wasp,  commanded  by  Captain  Jones,  sailed  from  Dei- 
aware  Bay  in  October,  steering  south.  On  the  17th  the  sailor  at  the  mast- 
head on  the  lookout  sighted  several  vessels.  Six  of  them  were  merchant- 
men ;  but  each  carried  sixteen  or 
eighteen  guns.  One  was  the  Frolic, 
a  war -ship,  which  carried  twenty 
guns.  The  Wasp?  carried  eighteen. 
The  merchant-ships  kept  on  their 
course,  while  the  Frolic  took  in  sail, 
to  let  the  Waftj)  know  she  was  ready 
to  fight.  There  had  been  a  storm, 
and  the  sea  was  running  high,  but 
the  sky  was  clear.  Captain  Jones 
sees  that  with  the  rolling  of  the 
ship  the  shot  will  fly  wild  unless 
the  gunners  take  good  aim. 

"  Fire  when  the  ship  is  going 
down  into  the  trough  of  the  sea  f 
are  his  instructions. 

That  will  send  the  shot  plump 
into  the  sides  of  the  Frolic. 
The  battle  begins.  The  shot  from  the  cannon  of  the  Wasp  tears 
through  the  sides  of  the  Frolic.  While  the  shot  from  the  Frolic  cut  the 
rigging  of  the  Wasp,  down  come  the  main-top-gallant  and  main-top-mast, 
entangling  the  rigging.  The  vessels  fall  foul  of  each  other,  the  bowsprit 
of  the  Frolic  running  across  the  quarter-deck  of  the  Wasp.  The  men  of 
the  Wasp)  see  their  opportunity,  lire  once  more,  and  leap  on  board  the 
Frolic,  finding   cannon   dismounted,  masts,  bulwarks,  and   all   the   wood- 


JACOIS   JONES. 


168 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[  Chap.  XII. 


I  J'Se  often  hecr//cfyeur~)Amyj!,  and  \ 
I  Jlarnct!  but  Little  UimlfAtsucn  dmmuhi/A 
\ffnsct1s  coutUyi\/€J!icSuch  a  St'uiy .'.'.'    J 


work  in  splinters.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  eight  men  on  board  ninety- 
two  had  been  killed  and  wounded. 
Lieutenant  Biddle  hauls  down  the 
flag  of  the  Frolic.  Though  the  loss 
has  been  so  terrible  on  the  Frolic, 
the  Wasp  has  had  only  live  killed, 
and  as  many  wounded — ten  in  all. 
The  victory  had  been  won  ;  but  the 
JPoictiers,  with  seventy  -  four  guns, 
made  her  appearance,  and  Captain 
Jones  was  obliged  to  give  up  his 
prize  and  pull  down  his  own  flag. 

There  was  great  rejoicing  in  the 
United  States  when  it  was  known 
that  the  Wasp  had  captured  a  su- 
perior vessel.  Newsboys  hawked 
through  the  streets  a  picture  of  a 
wasp  thrusting  its  sting  into  John 
Bull;  and  in  bar-rooms  and  grog- 
shops sailors  and  landsmen  sung  the  doggerel  song: 


A    WASP    UN'    A    FROLIC. 


"A  Wasp  took  a  Frolic  and  met  Johnny  Bull, 
Who  always  fights  best  when  his  belly  is  full. 
The  Wasp  thought  him  hungry  by  his  mouth  open  wide, 
So,  his  belly  to  fill,  put  a  sting  in  his  side." 

Captain  Stephen  Decatur,  commanding  the  United  States,  fell  in  with 
the  Macedonian.  Each  vessel  carried  forty -four  guns.  As  the  ships 
approached  each  other  the  American  sailors  heard  great  cheering  on 
board  the  Macedonian — the  English  were  going  to  whip  the  Yankees  ! 

The  battle  began,  and  for  half  an  hour  there  was  such  a  cloud  of 
smoke  rolling  up  from  the  United  States  that  Captain  Carden,  of  the 
Macedonian,  thought  she  was  on  fire.  During  the  time  the  mizzen-mast 
of  the  Macedonian  falls,  the  main-yard  is  cut  to  pieces,  the  main  and  fore 
top-masts  tumble  to  the  deck,  the  foremast  is  tottering,  just  ready  to  fall, 
the  bowsprit  is  splintered,  and  the  rigging  is  cut  into  shreds.  Suddenly 
the  cannon  of  the  United  States  become  silent,  and  the  British  sailors 
seeing  her  sheer  off,  swing  their  liars  and  give  a  cheer.  They  have  beat- 
en her,  and  she  is  trying  to  escape?  Not  quite.  The  man  wTho  fought 
the  Algerines  is  only  wearing  his  ship  to  take  a  new  position.  He  comes 
astern  the  Macedonian /  in  a  minute  he  will  rake  her  from  stem  to  stern. 


1812.] 


VICTORIES   ON  THE   SEA. 


169 


Captain  Carden  sees  that  he  is  powerless,  and  the  flag  of  the  Macedonian 
comes  down,  while  cheer  upon  cheer  rolls  up  from  the  United  States.  In 
half  an  hour  the  Macedonian  lias  become  a  wreck,  while  the  United 
States  has  suffered  very  little. 

On  December  4, 1812,  the  United  States  sails  into  the  harbor  of  New 
London,  and  the  Macedonian  into  Newport.  Greater  than  ever  the  re- 
joicing in  America.  Votes  of  thanks,  dinners,  swords  were  given  to  De- 
catur, and  rhymsters  rehearsed  his  exploits: 

"  Bold  Carden  thought  he  had  us  tight ; 

Just  so  did  Dacres,  too,  sirs ; 
But  brave  Decatur  put  him  right 

With  Yankee-doodle-doo,  sirs. 
They  thought  they  saw  our  ship  in  flame, 

Which  made  them  all  huzza,  sirs ; 
But  when  the  second  broadside  came 

It  made  them  hold  their  jaws,  sirs." 

One  of  the  fine  new  frigates  of  the  English  navy,  the  Java,  carrying 
thirty-eight  guns  (Captain  Lambert),  was  off  the  coast  of  Brazil,  with  the 
Governor-general  of  India  and  more  than  one  hundred  officers  of  the  East 
India  Service   on   board,  bound  for  Calcutta.     Governor  Ilyslop  and  his 


HAINBRIDGE  S    MEDAL. 


suite,  while  they  sipped  their  wine  at  dinner,  December  20,  little  thought 
that  it  was  the  last  time  they  would  drink  the  health  of  the  King  on  board. 

"  Sail  ho  !"  They  left  their  wine  to  take  a  look  at  the  vessel  bearing 
down  upon  them  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  at  the  mast-head. 

It  was  the  Constitution,  Captain  Bainbridge.     At  two  o'clock  the  bat- 


170  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  LChap.XII. 

tie  began,  a  shot  from  the  Java  breaking  to  pieces  the  wheel  of  the  Con- 
stitution ;  but  Captain  Bainbridge,  soon  fixing  a  gearing  to  work  the 
helm,  poured  in  a  terrible  fire,  stood  away,  fixed  up  things,  came  back,  laid 
the  Constitution  along-side,  shooting  away  all  three  of  the  Java's  masts, 
dismounting  her  guns,  and  making  terrible  slaughter,  killing  and  wound- 
ing more  than  two  hundred,  while  on  her  own  deck  there  were  only  nine 
killed  and  twenty-one  wounded. 

It  was  very  bitter,  but  the  Java  was  a  helpless  wreck.  Captain  Lam- 
bert could  fifrht  no  longer.  Down  came  her  flas\  and  the  Governor-»;en- 
eral  of  India  and  all  his  officers  were  prisoners  of  war.  So  badly  cut  to 
pieces  was  the  Java,  that  Captain  Bainbridge,  after  removing  the  wounded 
and  the  prisoners,  set  her  on  fire. 

Into  the  harbor  of  Boston  proudly  sailed  the  Constitution,  the  cannon 
on  shore  thundering  a  salute. 

"Old  Ironsides"  the  people  called  her. 

Great  was  the  consternation  in  England,  for,  with  successive  losses, 
came  the  conviction  that  a  nation  was  rising  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic  which  was  to  dispute  her  supremacy  of  the  seas. 


1813.] 


SECOND   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 


171 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


SECOND    YEAR    OF    THE    WiR. 


GENERAL  WINCHESTER,  with  one  thousand  troops  from  Ohio, 
was  at  Frenchtown,  now  Monroe,  in  Michigan.  It  was  a  place  of 
half  a  dozen  log  cabins.  Peter  Navarre  lived  in  one,  and  Jacques  Lasalle  in 
another.  They  were  French  Canadians.  "  Yon  are  going  to  be  attacked," 
said  Peter  to  General  Winchester.  He  sided  with  the  Americans,  and 
had  been  out  on  a  scout. 

"Ha!  ha!  ha!"   laughed  Jacques;  "that  is  a  mistake.     Proctor  is  at 

Maiden,   and   has    no   idea   of 
attacking  you,"  he  said. 

He  wras  in  the  pay  of  Proc- 
tor, and  knew  that  eleven  hun- 
dred British  and  Indians  were 
preparing  to  cross  Detroit  River 
on  the  ice  and  attack  the  Amer- 
icans. 

General  Winchester  did 
not  believe  that  Proctor  would 
make  an  attack,  and  rested  in 
security;  but  during  the  night 
of  January  21,  1813,  Proctor 
and  Tecumtha,  with  eleven 
hundred  men  and  five  cannon, 
crossed  upon  the  ice  and  stole  silently  upon  the  Americans. 

Just  before  daybreak  came  the  crack  of  a  rifle  fired  by  one  of  the 
sentinels,  who  heard  the  tramping  of  feet.  The  next  moment  the  Indians 
were  yelling  the  war-whoop,  and  cannon-shot  crashed  into  the  houses 
where  the  Americans  were  sleeping. 

General  Winchester  and  Colonel  Lewis  were  soon  captured. 
The  soldiers,  commanded  by  Colonel  Wells  and  M'Clanahan,  became 
panic-stricken  and  fled  across  the   river  Rasin,  but  only  to  fall  into  the 


LASALLE  S    HOUSE. 


172 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XIII. 


hands  of  the  Indians,  who,  having  captured  them,  buried  their  hatchets  in 
their  skulls  and  took  their  scalps.  General  Proctor  had  offered  a  reward 
for  every  American  scalp,  and  in  consequence  more  than  one  hundred 
were  inhumanly  massacred  after  surrendering. 

Although  so  many  of  the  soldiers  had  fled,  the  regiments  under  Major 
Madison  and  Major  Graves  stood  their  ground.  They  were  in  a  garden, 
sheltered  by  a  fence;  and  although  Proctor  had  five  cannon  and  the  Amer- 
icans no  artillery,  and  were 
greatly  outnumbered,  they  kept 
the  British  and  Indians  at  bay, 
and  fought  so  bravely  that 
Proctor  despaired  of  capturing 
them. 

He  was  mean,  cruel,  blood- 
thirsty, and  destitute  of  honor. 
He  allowed  the  Indians  to  strip 
Winchester  of  nearly  all  his 
clothes,  and  then  told  him  he 
must  sign  an  order  command- 
ing Madison  and  Graves  to  sur- 
render. "The  Americans  will 
all  be  massacred  if  they  do 
not  surrender.  Private  property  will  be  respected,  and  the  wounded  will 
be  tenderly  cared  for,"  he  said. 

General  Winchester  did  not  know  that  Proctor  had  in  reality  been 
defeated,  and  signed  the  order.  An  officer  with  a  white  flag  carried  it 
to  Madison  and  Graves.  They  obeyed  it,  and  the  soldiers  laid  down 
their  arms.  Then  the  massacre  began,  the  Indians  tomahawking  and 
scalping  the  wounded.  Proctor  made  no  effort  to  stop  it.  He  was  so 
inhuman  and  treacherous  that  Tecumtha  looked  down  upon  him  with 
scorn.  But  Sir  George  Prevost,  Governor  of  Canada,  was  so  pleased  with 
what  Proctor  had  accomplished  that  he  made  him  a  general. 

So  the  year  1S13  began  upon  the  laud  with  disaster  to  the  Americans; 
but  American  sailors  were  still  winning  victories. 

The  brig  Hornet,  commanded  by  Captain  James  Lawrence,  February  24 
fell  in  with  the  British  brig  Peacock.  The  vessels  were  of  equal  size,  each 
carrying  twenty  guns;  but  so  destructive  was  the  fire  of  the  Hornet,  that 
in  fifteen  minutes  the  Peacock  was  a  complete  wreck — the  main-mast  gone, 
rigging  cut  to  pieces,  and  water  pouring  into  her  hold.  Down  came  her 
flag,  and  up  went  a  signal  of  distress.     The  crew  of  the  Hornet  manned 


WLNCHESTKK  S    HEAD-QUAfiTKRS. 


1813.] 


SECOND   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 


173 


their  boats,  and  began  to  take  the  men  from  the  Peacock ;  but  suddenly 
she  went  down,  carrying  thirteen  of  her  own  crew  and  three  Americans. 


MOVEMENTS    AT    FRENCHTOWN. 

The  American  sailors  had  defeated  the  British,  and   now  divided   their 
clothing  with  them. 

Humanity  and  kindness  of  heart  on  the  deck  of  the  Hornet /  toma- 
hawking and  scalping  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Rasin.  The  world  noted 
the  difference. 


174 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XIII. 


While  the  Hornet  was  sending  the  Peacock  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea 
the  British  troops  in  Canada  crossed  the  St.  Lawrence  on  the  ice  and  capt- 
ured and  plundered  the  village  of  Ogdensbnrg;  bnt  when  spring  opened 


YORK    (NOW    TOKOVl'0). 

the  Americans,  with  the  fleet  under  Commodore  Chauncey,  crossed  Lake 
Ontario  to  attack  York,  now  Toronto. 

General  Zebnlon  Pike  led  the  Americans.  The  British,  seeing  that 
they  could  not  hold  the  place,  laid  a  train  of  five  hundred  kegs  of  powder 
to  blow  up  one  of  the  forts.  The  soldier  who  was  to  fire  it  touched  it  off 
too  soon,  when  it  exploded,  sending  timbers,  cannon,  shot,  and  shells  into 
the  air.  Forty  British  and  fifty- 
eight  Americans  were  killed.  One 
of  the  Americans  was  General  Pike, 
who  was  crushed  by  a  falling  timber, 
and  after  whom  many  counties  and 
towns  in  the  Western  States  have 
since  been  named. 

Who  should  command  the  army  of 
the  North-west?  Who  but  the  man 
who  had  won  the  victory  at  Tippe- 
canoe— General  William  Henry  Har- 
rison ?  The  troops,  the  country,  be- 
lieved in  him.  He  built  a  fort  eight 
miles  up  the  Maumee  River  from 
Toledo,  and  named  it  Fort  Meigs. 

He    had     only     two     regiments. 

°  ZKBULON"    PIKE. 

General     Armstrong,    Secretary     of 

War,  thought  that  he  could  manage  the  campaign  from  Washington,  ami 

had  given  General  Harrison  less  than  half  the  troops  he  needed. 


1813.] 


SECOND  YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


175 


General  Proctor  saw  his  opportunity.  He  would  attack  the  half-fin- 
ished fort  and  capture  it  before  any  re-enforcements  could  reach  Har- 
rison. 

"Summon  all  the  Indians;  we  will  drive  the  Americans  beyond  the 
Ohio,  and  you  shall  have  Michigan 
for  your  territory  forever,"  he  said 
to  Tecumtha. 

The  Indians  came,  fifteen  hun- 
dred in  number,  to  murder  and 
scalp  the  Big  Knives,  as  they  called 
the  American  settlers. 

General  Proctor  sailed  from  Am- 
herstburg,  landed,  planted  his  can- 
non, and  for  five  days  rained  solid 
shot  and  shell  upon  the  fort.  When 
General  Harrison  saw  Proctor  plac- 
ing his  cannon  he  set  his  soldiers  to 
digging  ditches  and  throwing  up  an 
embankment,  called  a  traverse,  be- 
hind which  the  soldiers  could  lie  in 
safety.  He  had  only  three  cannon 
and  very  few  balls. 

"A  gill  of  rum  for  every  ball  you  can  pick  up,"  he  said;  and  the  sol- 
diers watched  where  the  balls  ploughed  into  the  ground,  dug  them  out,  so 
many  of  them  that  the  sutler  had  to  measure  out  more  than  two  thousand 
gills.  Captain  Gratiot,  commanding  the  artillery,  sent  the  balls  back  to 
Proctor  as  General  Harrison's  compliments. 

Proctor  sent  a  flag  summoning  Harrison  to  surrender;  but  the  man 

who  had  won  the  battle  of 
Tippecanoe  had  no  idea  of 
pulling  clown  the  flag  while 
there  was  a  soldier  to  de- 
fend it. 

General  Clay  was  on 
his  way  to  the  fort,  de- 
scending the  Maumee  with 
eight  hundred  men  in 
boats.  General  Proctor 
had  divided  his  army,  having  part  on  the  west  and  part  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river.     General  Harrison  sent  word  to  General  Clay  to  land  part 


WILLIAM    HENRY    HARRISON. 


MORTAR  BA7TERV 


FORT    MHOS. 


176 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XIII. 


of  his  troops  on  the  north  side,  rush  upon  Proctor's  batteries,  spike  the 
gnns,  then  retreat,  cross  the  river,  and  gain  the  fort.  The  rest  of  Clay's 
soldiers  were  to  land  on  the  south  side  and  spike  the  guns  there. 

Colonel  Dudley  commanded  the  men  who  were  to  land  ou  the  west 
side.  The  river  was  rising  when  the  boats  swept  up  to  the  bank,  and  the 
troops  landed  under  the  willows  and  maples,  which  were  just  putting  out 
their  young  leaves,  on  the  3d  of  May.  They  marched  through  the  woods 
a  mile  and  a  half.  They  could  hear  the  booming  of  Proctor's  eighteen- 
pounders,  which  had  begun  to  play  upon  the  fort.  The  Indians,  strange  to 
say,  had  not  discovered  the  Americans. 

"Give  the  war-whoop,"  whispered  Dudley.     The  Kentnckians  could 

yell  as  well  as  the 
Indians.  The  troops 
rushed  forward,  fell 
upon  the  British, 
spiked  the  cannon, 
and  pulled  down  the 
British  flag.  Gen- 
eral Harrison  and 
the  soldiers  in  the 
fort  beheld  it,  swung 
their  hats,  and  gave 
a  hurrah. 

Great  events  hang 
on  little  things;  a 
slight  mistake  upsets 
the  best -laid  plans. 
Colonel  Dudley  had 
not  informed  his  officers  that  as  soon  as  the  guns  were  spiked  they  were 
to  retreat.  In  a  few  moments  more  than  one  thousand  Indians  were  upon 
them,  and  more  than  two-thirds  of  his  force  were  captured,  the  Indians 
splitting  open  their  skulls.  General  Proctor  did  not  attempt  to  stop  them. 
Tecumtha  was  fighting  the  Americans,  but  he  was  too  honorable  to  see 
men  slaughtered  in  cold  blood  who  had  surrendered. 

"  Why  don't  you  stop  the  killing  ?"  he  shouted  to  Proctor. 
"  I  cannot  control  your  warriors." 

"  Go  put  on  petticoats — you  are  no  general,"  said  Tecumtha. 
The  rest  of  Clay's  troops  landed  on  the  east  bank.     General  Harrison 
sent  out  three  hundred  and  fifty  men  from  the   fort,  who  joined   Clay, 
spiked  the  British  cannon,  and  then  all  marched  into  the  fort. 


SIEGE    OF    FORT    MEIGS. 


1813.] 


SECOND   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 


177 


Through  Dudley's  disobedience  of  orders  eighty  Americans  had  been 
killed,  two  hundred  and  seventy  wounded,  and  four  hundred  and  seventy 
captured.  Proctor  had  lost  one  hundred,  his  cannon  were  spiked,  and  the 
troops  in  the  fort  had  been  re-enforced.  No  use  for  him  now  to  think  of 
capturing  the  fort.  He  left  his  spiked  cannon  and  went  back  to  Amherst- 
burg. 

There  was  fighting  at  Niagara.  On  May  27  General  Dearborn  crossed 
into  Canada  and  captured  Fort  Niagara.  This  movement  compelled  the 
British  to  evacuate  all  the  other  forts  between  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake 
Erie. 

Sir  George  Prevost,  to  retaliate,  sailed,  with  six  war-vessels  command- 
ed by  Sir  James  Yeo,  and  twelve  hundred  men,  from  Kingston  across 
Ontario,  to  attack  Sackett's  Harbor. 

"  The  British  are  coming !"  was  the  word  which  horsemen  shouted  as 
they  rode  through  the  country  around  Sackett's  Harbor;  and  the  farmers 


sackett's  harbor — 1814. 


seized  their  guns  and  hastened  to  defend  it.  General  Brown  commanded 
them. 

On  May  28  the  British  fleet  appeared — six  vessels,  carrying  one  hun- 
dred and  two  cannon.  General  Brown  had  only  one  cannon— a  thirty- 
two-pounder. 

The  British  troops,  in  their  boats,  came  sweeping  around  Horse  Island. 
Colonel  Mills  and  four  hundred  Americans  were  drawn  up  on  the  shore; 
but  Colonel  Mills  was  killed  at  the  first  fire,  and  the  troops  (who  never 
before  had  been  in  battle)  fled.  Colonel  Backus,  with  two  hundred  and 
fifty  men,  stood  their  ground;  and  Colonel  McNitt  succeeded  in  rallying 

12 


ITS 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XIII. 


C>~^1 


%SACKETT'S  HARBOR 
t   A     May  1813  a     ® 


one  hundred  of  the  fugitives.  Colonel  Backus  was  killed  ;  but  his  troops 
took  shelter  in  their  log  barracks,  and  kept  up  a  galling  lire  upon  the 
British. 

A  bright  thought  came  to  General  Brown. 

"  Ride,"  he  said  to  an  officer,  "  and  tell  the  men  who  have  run  away 
that  we  are  winning  the  battle,  and  now  is  the  time  for  them  to  have 
part  of  the  glory." 

The  officer  rode  down  to  the  frightened  men,  who  took  heart  once 
more.  General  Brown  leads  them  round  to  take  the  British  in  the  rear. 
Sir   George   Prevost   is    standing  on  a    stump,  and   sees   a  body   of  men 

sweeping  down  upon  his  flank. 


"  Come  on,  boys,  the  day  is 
ours  !"  shouts  a  British  captain. 

An  American  drummer -boy 
throws  down  his  drum  and  picks 
up  a  gun. 

';  Not  yet,"  he  shouts,  firing  and 
killing  the  officer. 

The  British  retreat,  become 
panic-stricken,  and  rush  pell-mell 
to  their  boats.  Sir  George  Prevost 
goes  back  to  Kingston,  much  morti- 
fied over  his  failure. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  war 
the  British  frigate  Shannon  had 
been  cruising  off  the  coast  of  New 
England.  It  was  one  of  the  vessels 
that  tried  to  capture  the  Constitu- 


1813.]  SECOND   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR.  179 

tion.  Captain  Broke,  commanding  the  Shannon,  was  brave  and  ener- 
getic ;  his  crew  under  strict  discipline,  every  day  working  the  guns  as  if 
in  action. 

In  Boston  harbor  was  the  American  frigate  Chesapeake,  which  had 
been  out  on  a  cruise  and  captured  several  British  merchant-ships.  The 
sailors  were  entitled  to  their  portion  of  prize-money,  but  were  not  paid  as 
they  ought  to  have  been.     They  said  that  they  were  being  cheated. 

Captain  Lawrence,  who  had  sunk  the  Peacock,  was  appointed  to  com- 
mand the  Chesapeake.  When  he  went  on  board  he  found  everything  in 
confusion — few  officers,  the  crew  undisciplined,  and  just  ready  to  rise  in 
mutiny.  The  boatswain  was  a  Portuguese— a  villain ;  and  the  crew  alto- 
gether seem  to  have  been  a  bad  lot.  A  fishing-boat  brought  a  letter  to 
Captain  Lawrence.  It  was  from  Captain  Broke  challenging  the  Chesa- 
peake to  fight  the  Shannon,  which  Captain  Lawrence  very  unwisely  accept- 
ed: for  the  Shannon  carried  fifty-two  guns,  and  the  crew  were  disciplined  ; 
while  the  Chesapeake  carried  but  forty -eight  guns,  and  the  crew,  during 
the  weeks  the  vessel  had  been  in  the  harbor,  had  been  rollicking  in  grog- 
shops. But  if  Captain  Lawrence  did  not  go  out  and  fight  would  not  the 
people  think  him  a  coward?  Some  of  his  sailors  never  had  been  on  a 
war-vessel,  and  did  not  know  how  to  work  the  guns;  but  he  accepted  the 
challenge,  and  sailed  out  from  Boston  to  engage  the  Shannon.  Many  of 
the  sailors  had  bottles  of  rum  in  their  pockets,  and  drank  so  much  that 
when  the  vessels  were  near  enough  to  begin  the  fight  they  were  so 
intoxicated  that  they  could  not  stand. 

"Free  trade  and  sailors'  rights''''  was  the  motto  which  Captain  Law- 
rence inscribed  on  his  flag.  Lie  thought  that  it  would  arouse  the  en- 
thusiasm of  his  men ;  but  it  did  not.  They  were  sullen  over  the  thought 
that  the  government  had  not  paid  them  their  dues.  It  was  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  when  the  fight  began,  but  it  was  over  in  fifteen  minutes. 
The  Shannon  from  the  outset  had  it  all  her  own  way.  Captain  Law- 
rence was  mortally  wounded.  "  Don't  give  up  the  ship  !"  he  said  as  he 
fell.  They  were  his  last  words.  Nearly  all  his  officers  were  killed  or 
wounded.  The  Shannon  ran  along-side,  and  the  British  leaped  on  board, 
pulled  down  the  flag,  and  sailed,  with  the  Chesapeake,  to  Halifax,  where 
there  was  great  rejoicing. 

When  the  news  of  the  capture  reached  England  London  went  wild 
with  excitement.  The  Yankees,  who  had  been  sweeping  all  before  them 
on  the  ocean,  had  at  last  been  beaten  !  England  was  still  mistress  of 
the  seas. 

Fort  Stephenson  was  situated  on  the  Sandusky  Biver,  in  Ohio.     It  is 


180 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XIII. 


now  Fremont.      The  fort  was  built  of  oak  logs  sixteen  feet  long,  set  in 

the  ground,  sharpened  at  the  'top,  with  block-houses  at  the  corners.     Out- 

=^  ^  side  the  fort  was   a   ditch   eight  feet  deep. 

It  was  garrisoned  by  one  hundred  and  sixty 

men,  under  Major  Croghan,  who   had  only 

one  cannon — an  old  iron  six-pounder. 

General  Proctor,  having  been  foiled  at 
Fort  Meigs,  determined  to  capture  it.  Gen- 
eral Harrison  learned  what  Proctor  intended 
to  do,  and  sent  a  messenger  with  a  letter  to 
Major  Croghan. 


VIEW    AT    FREMONT. 


"  Destroy  the  fort  and  the  stores,  and  retreat,  provided  you  can  do  so 
in  season,"  he  wrote. 

The  Indians  were  swarming  through  the  woods;  but  Major  Croghan 
read  the  letter,  and  sent  the  carrier  back  with  this  reply  : 

"  It  is  too  late  to  retreat.  We  have  determined  to  maintain  the  place, 
and,  by  Heaven,  we  will." 

The  man  who  wrote  that  was  only  twenty-one,  and  he  had  only  one 
hundred  and  sixty  men  and  one  cannon,  against  four  thousand  British  and 
Indians,  led  by  Proctor  and  Tecumtha. 

Proctor  sailed  into  Sandusky  River  with  his  gun- boats,  landed  and 
planted  his  cannon,  and  sent  Colonel  Elliott  with  a  white  flag  to  the  fort. 
Lieutenant  Shift  went  out  to  meet  him. 

"I  demand  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  to  save  the  shedding  of  blood." 


1313.] 


SECOND   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


181 


"  We  shall  defend  it  to  the  last." 

"Our  success  is  certain.  Look  at  the  immense  number  of  Indians 
which  we  have.     We  shall  not  be  able  to  restrain  them  from  massacre." 

"  When  you  take  the  fort  there 
will  be  no  Americans  left  to  mas- 
sacre." 

An  Indian  sprung  out  of  the 
bushes  and  attempted  to  snatch  Lieu- 
tenant Sniffs  sword ;  but  Shift  in- 
stantly drew  it  to  cut  him  down. 

"  Come  in,  and  we  will  blow 
them  to  pieces  !"  shouted  Croghan 
from  the  fort.  Elliott  went  back  to 
Proctor,  and  then  six  cannon  on 
shore  and  the  gun-boats  opened  fire. 

"Put  the  six -pounder  in  the 
block-house  on  the  north  side ;  point 
it  so  it  will  sweep  the  ditch.  Load 
it  to  the  muzzle,"  said  Croghan  ;  and 
the  soldier  filled  it  with  musket- 
balls,  bits  of  old  iron,  and  spikes. 
Major  Croghan  thought  the  British 
would  certainly  attempt  to  storm  the  fort  at  the  north-west  corner. 

All  through  the  day,  through  the  night,  through  the  next  day  till  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  Proctor's  cannon  thundered,  the  balls  crashing 
through  the  oak  logs,  but  doing  little  harm  to  the  Americans.  The  In- 
dians were  restless;  they  had  taken  no  scalps;  they  wanted  to  get  into  the 
fort  to  begin  their  bloody  work.  A  thunder-storm  was  rising  in  the  west, 
dark  clouds  sweeping  up  the  sky.  Proctor  determined  to  make  an  assault 
at  the  north-west  corner  and  on  the  south  side  at  the  same  time. 

"Fire  as  fast  as  yon  can,"  lie  said  to  the  artillerymen;  and  the  can- 
non blazed  faster  than  ever,  making  a  great  white  cloud,  which  the  wind 
swept  upon  the  fort. 

"  There  they  come !"  A  soldier  shouted  it ;  and  Major  Croghan  be- 
held through  the  smoke  a  column  of  red-coated  soldiers  not  one  hundred 
feet  distant.     They  leap  into  the  ditch,  led  by  Colonel  Short. 

"  Cut  the  pickets  away ;  show  the  Yankees  no  quarter !"  he  shouts. 
Never  again  will  his  lips  utter  an  order.  The  loop-holes  of  the  fort  blaze ; 
he  falls  headlong  dead.  The  six-pounder  hurls  its  balls  and  spikes  along 
the  ditch,  mowing  a  path  its  entire  length. 


MAJOR    CROGHAN. 


1S2 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XIII. 


"  In  with  the  balls  and  spikes  !"  sliouts  Major  Croglian  ;  and  in  an 
instant  it  is  filled  again  to  the  muzzle,  and  the  missiles  sent  into  the  strug- 
gling British.  Five  minutes,  and  it  is  over — the  living  fleeing  to  escape 
the  bullets  of  the  riflemen.  In  the  ditch  lie  one  hundred  and  twenty 
dead  and  wounded,  while  in  the  fort  only  one  has  been  killed. 


The  storm  bursts  —  lightning  flashing  and  thunder  rolling.  Night 
comes.  In  the  darkness  Proctor  steals  on  board  his  boats.  When  morn- 
ing dawns  the  ships  are  far  out  on  the  lake,  and  not  an  Indian  is  to  be 
seen.  Xever  again  will  a  British  soldier  set  foot  in  Ohio  or  Michigan 
except  as  a  prisoner. 

Admiral  Cochrane  commanded  the  British  fleets  along  the  Atlantic 
coast.  "  Destroy  the  coast,  and  ravage  the  country,"  was  the  order  he 
issued  to  the  captains  of  the  ships.  Admiral  Hardy  was  charged  to  destroy 
Stonington,  Connecticut,  and  appeared  off  the  harbor  with  the  Mamillies, 
seventy-four  guns;  Pactc/lus,  forty-four  guns;  Despatch,  twenty-two  guns; 
and  the  Terror,  a  bomb-ship.  At  five  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  August 
9,  1S13,  he  sent  a  boat  with  a  white  flag  on  shore,  with  this  message  to 
the  "  select-men :" 

"  The  inhabitants  can  have  one  hour  in  which  to  leave  the  town.*' 


1813.] 


SECOND   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 


183 


STONINUTON    FLAG. 


"What  had  the  people  of  Stonington   clone  that  their  town   must  be 
burnt  ?      Nothing.      It  was    barbarous    war- 
fare.    The  select-men  were  men  of  pluck. 

"  If  our  houses  are  to  be  burnt  we  shall 
fight  till  the  last  extremity,"  was  the  answer 
sent  to  Admiral  Hardy. 

Along  the  roads  streamed  the  old  men, 
the  women,  and  children  —  hastening  away 
from  the  town  with  what  they  could  carry; 
while  the  young  men  remained  to  fight. 
Upon  a  hill  overlooking  the  harbor  were  two 
old  eighteen-pounder  cannons,  two  six-pound- 
ers, and  one  four-pounder;  but  they  had  only 

a  few  pounds  of  powder,  and  not  many  balls.      Lieutenant  Hough  was 
commander. 

The  sea  was  calm,  and  as  there  was  no  wind  Admiral  Hardy  could 
not  get  near  enough  to  use  his  cannon;  but  just  at  sunset  each  ship  low- 
ered its  beats,  which  towed  the  bomb-vessel  close  in  shore,  and  the  Terror 
began  to  throw  shells  and  rockets  among  the  houses. 

The  Stomngton  men  saw  that 
if  they  could  get  one  of  the  can- 
non out  upon  a  point  of  land 
they  could  make  it  uncomforta- 
ble for  the  bomb -ship,  and  in 
the  darkness  dragged  one  of  the 
eighteen-pounders  along  the  peb- 
bled beach.  They  threw  up  a 
breastwork,  planted  the  cannon, 
rammed  in  two  balls,  and  sent 
them  crashing  into  the  British 
boats.  So  damaging  Avas  the  fire 
that  the  British  made  all  haste 
to  get  away. 

Morning    dawned,  and    with 
the    freshening    breeze    the    De- 
spatch came    sailing  in,  opening 
her    broadsides    upon    the    men 
managing  the  old  cannon.    Jeremiah  Holmes  was  chief  manager.    He  had 
been  a  prisoner  on  board  a  British  man-of-war,  and  knew  how  to  manage 
the  gun.      He  sighted  it,  and  sent  the  shot  plump  into  the  side  of  the 


«f 


JEREMIAH    HOLMES. 


184 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XIII. 


Despatch,  and  kept  up  the  fight  till  he  had  used  up  his  last  cartridge; 
then  drove  a  spike  into  the  vent-hole,  and  went  up  to  the  breastwork  on 
the  hill,  where  the  shot  from  all  of  Admiral  Hardy's  vessels  were  flying 
thick  and  fast. 

"Had  we  not  better  surrender?"  asked  a  faint-hearted  citizen. 
"  No !  The  Stars  and  Stripes  never  shall  come  down  while  I  live !" 
shouted  Holmes;  and  when  the  wind  died  in  the  calm  summer  evening, 
and  the  flag  hung  limp  against  the  staff,  he  stood  on  the  breastwork  and 
held  it  out  with  the  point  of  his  bayonet,  that  the  British  might  see  that 
it  was  still  there.  Three  shot  passed  through  while  he  was  thus  hold- 
ing it.  More  powder — six  kegs  had  been  obtained ;  and  the  Stonington 
men  during  the  night  drew  the  old  cannon  down  on  the  point  of  land  to 
Mr.  Cobb's  blacksmith  shop,  got  the  spike  out,  drew  it  back  again,  and 
then  Jeremiah  Holmes  sent  the  solid  shot,  one  after  another,  into  the  hull 
of  the  Despatch,  doing  such  damage  that  the  captain  was  obliged  to  cut 
his  cables  and  get  beyond  reach.  The  Bamillics  and  Pactolus  sailed  in 
and  opened  a  terrific  fire,  but  the  old  cannon  still  thundered  back  its  reply. 
Admiral  Hardy  rained  more  than  fifty  tons  of  iron  upon  the  town. 
Several  houses  were  set  on  fire ;  but  the  people  dashed  on  water  and  put 

out  the  flames.  After  three  days'  bombard- 
ment, after  having  twenty  men  killed  and  fifty 
wounded,  the  British  fleet  sailed  away. 

Only  one  American  was  injured,  Frederic 
Denison,  who  died  of  his  wounds.  He  was 
only  nineteen  }'ears  old.  He  was  very  brave, 
and  fought  so  nobly  that  the  State  of  Connecti- 
cut erected  a  monument  to  his  memory. 

The  country  rung  with  praises  of  Jeremiah 
Holmes  and  the  handful  of  men  who  defended 
the   place    so  gloriously,  and   Admiral   Hardy 
was   laughed  at  for  his   ignominious   failure. 
Philip  Freneau  wrote  a  ballad  setting  forth  his  exploits  : 

"  The  bombardiers,  with  bomb  and  ball, 
Soon  made  a  farmer's  barrack  fall, 
And  did  a  cow-house  sadly  maul 
That  stood  a  mile  from  Stonington. 


r*& 


DENISON  S    MONUMENT. 


"  They  killed  a  goose,  they  killed  a  hen  ; 
Three  hogs  they  wounded  in  a  pen — 
They  dashed  away — and,  pray,  what  then 
That  was  not  taking  Stonington. 


1813.] 


SECOND   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 


1S5 


"  The  shells  were  thrown,  the  rockets  flew, 
But  not  a  shell  of  all  they  threw, 
Though  every  house  was  full  in  view, 
Could  burn  a  house  in  Stonington." 

The  British  ship  La  Hogue  came  into  Scituate  Harbor,  near  Boston, 
intending  to  burn  two  vessels  that  were  loaded  with  flour.     The  men  of 


A    MUSICAL    STRATAUK.V. 


Scituate  were  at  work  in  their  fields;  but  there  were  two  plucky  girls, 
who  determined  to  see  what  the}'  could  do  toward  fighting  the  British — 
Rebecca  and  Abigail -Bates.  Rebecca  was  eighteen,  Abigail  fourteen. 
Rebecca  had  learned  to  play  the  fife,  and  Abigail  knew  how  to  beat 
the  drum. 

"You  take  the  drum,  and  I'll  take  the  fife,"  said  Rebecca. 

"  What  a-ood  will  that  do  ?" 


186  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XIII. 

"  We'll  make  the  red-coats  think  that  a  whole  regiment  is  coming." 

The  ship  had  lowered  its  boats,  and  was  moving  toward  the  shore. 
The  girls  stationed  themselves  behind  the  rocks,  and  Rebecca  struck  up 
"  Yankee-doodle;"  while  Abigail  beat  the  drum  and  shouted,  "  Eight  face  ! 
march  !" 

Suddenly  the  rowers  rested  on  their  oars  and  the  officers  listened. 
More  shrill  the  fife — louder  the  drum.  A  signal-flag  went  np  on  the  La 
Hague.  "  Come  back,"  it  said ;  and  the  sailors  hastened  back  to  the  ship 
just  in  season  to  get  away  before  Captain  Bates  and  the  men  hastening  in 
from  the  fields  had  the  six-pounder  cannon  ready  to  open  fire. 

By  their  stratagem  and  pluck  the  girls  saved  the  town  from  the  ma- 
rauders. 

While  this  was  taking  place  on  land  the  American  ship  Argus,  of 
twenty-one  guns,  was  making  great  havoc  with  the  British  vessels  off  the 
coast  of  England,  but  after  a  while  was  captured  by  the  Pelican.  Off 
Portland  the  American  brig  Enterprise,  of  fourteen  guns,  captured  the 
Boxer,  of  fourteen  guns.  Captain  Blythe,  of  the  Boxer,  and  Captain  Bur- 
rows, of  the  Enterprise,  were  both  killed.  The  Enterprise  sailed  into 
Portland  with  her  prize,  and  the  two  officers  were  buried  side  by  side  in 
the  cemetery.  So,  after  the  loss  of  the  Shannon  and  Argus,  American 
sailors  were  once  more  victorious. 


1813.] 


SECOND  AND   THIRD   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 


187 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

SECOND   AND   THIRD   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

"  O  AIL  ho!"    A  man  on  the  bluff  of  an  island  in  Lake  Erie  shouted  it. 

^  He   could  see  a  fleet  far  away.      The  cry  rung  from  ship  to  ship 

through  Commodore  Perry's  fleet.     He  had  been  longing  to -catch  sight 

of  the  British  fleet,  which  was  commanded  by  Captain  Barclay,  wTho  had 


PERRY  S    LOOKOUT. 


fought  under  Lord  Nelson  at  Trafalgar.  Commodore  Perry  had  nine 
vessels — the  Laiorence  and  Niagara,  twenty  guns  each;  the  rest  all  small 
vessels,  carrying  one  or  two  guns  each.  Commodore  Barclay  had  six  ves- 
sels— the  Detroit,  twenty-one  guns  ;  Queen  Charlotte,  eighteen  guns  ;  Lady 
Prevost,  thirteen  guns;  Hunter,  ten  guns;  the  others  one  gun  each.  Com- 
modore Perry  had  in  all  fifty-four  cannon,  Commodore  Barclay  sixty-eight. 

Commodore  Perry  was  on  board  the  Lawrence. 

"Pour  all  your  broadsides  into  the  American  flag-ship,"  was  Barclay's 


1S8 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XIV. 


order.     lie  hoped  by  sending  that  vessel  to  the  bottom  to  win  an  easy 
victory. 

"  The  Lawrence  will  engage  the  Detroit,  the  Niagara  the  Queen  Char- 
lotte, and  each  captain  must 
lay  his  vessel  along- side  the 
enemy  as  soon  as  possible," 
were  Perry's  instructions. 

Barclay  had  thirty -five 
long-range  guns,  Perry  only 
fifteen ;  and  the  British  com- 
mander calculated  to  cripple 
the  Lawrence  before  Perry 
could  get  near  enough  to  do 
any  injury  to  his  fleet.  Per- 
ry's guns  were  larger  than  the 
British,  and  he  hoped  by  com- 
ing to  close  quarters  at  once 
to  win  the  victory.  At  the 
mast-head  of  his  ship  floated 
a  flag  with  this  inscription  : 
" DonH  give  up  the  ship" — 
the  last  words  of  the  commander  of  the  American  frigate  Chesapeake. 

It  was  half-past  eleven,  September  10.     "Give  the  men  their  dinner," 
was  the  signal  from  the  Lawrence.     Commodore  Perry  knew  that  if  the 
men  went  into  battle  with  full  stomachs  they 
would   rani   home  the   halls   with   increased  ^zf-^ 

vigor. 

Commodore  Barclay  is  confident  of  vic- 
tory. He  has  sailed  down  from  Maiden  to 
annihilate  the  American  fleet,  and  as  soon  as 
he  has  accomplished  it  General  Proctor  will 
cross  Detroit  River  and  attack  General  Har- 
rison and  annihilate  him. 

It  wants  fifteen  minutes  to  twelve  when 
the  lifers  and  buglers  on  the  Detroit  strike 
up  "Pule,  Britannia,"  and  a  shot  from  a 
twenty-four-pounder  skims  over  the  water  at  the  Lawrence /  but  the  dis- 
tance is  a  mile  and  a  half,  and  it  falls  short.  Five  minutes,  and  a  second 
shot  crashes  through  the  side  of  the  Latvrence.  The  men  at  the  guns 
are  ea^er  to  give  a  return  shot. 


COMMODORE    PERRY. 


PERRY  S    BIRTHPLACE,   SOUTH  KINGS- 
TON, R.  I. 


1813.] 


SECOND   AND   THIRD   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


ISO 


"  Steady,  boys,  steady,"  is  the  only  answer  of  the  self-possessed  man, 
twenty-nine  years  old,  who  stands  upon  the  quarter-deck,  who  before  the 
sun  goes  down  will  write  his  name  large  on  the  scroll  of  fame. 

Twelve  o'clock.  The  Scorpion  is  nearest  the  British  fleet.  Lieuten- 
ant Stephen  Champlin,  Commodore  Perry's  cousin,  is  commander,  although 
but  twenty-five  years  old.  He  has  two  guns,  and  fires  a  thirty -two  pound 
ball  at  the  nearest  British  vessel.  At  fifteen  minutes  past  twelve  the  Law- 
rence, fastest  of  all  the  American  vessels,  is  in  advance  of  the  other  Amer- 


PUT-IN   BAY.       (BATTLE    IN   THE    DISTANCE.) 


ican  ships.  She  is  alone,  and  so  near  the  British  fleet  that  the  gun  of 
every  vessel  can  reach  her.  The  shot  go  through  her  sides,  make  great 
rents  in  her  sails,  dismount  cannon,  killing  and  wounding  the  sailors. 

The  Lawrence,  Ariel,  Scorpion,  and  Caledonia,  of  the  American  fleet, 
are  engaged.  The  Niagara  and  the  small  vessels  are  far  behind.  The 
British  vessels  are  pouring  all  their  broadsides  into  the  Lawrence. 

"All  the  officers  in  my  division  are  cut  down.  Can  I  have  any  more?" 
is  the  word  which  Lieutenant  Yarnell  sends  to  Perry.  A  few  minutes 
later  he  stands  before  his  commander  with  the  blood  streaming  down  his 
face  from  a  wound  caused  by  a  splinter  which  has  passed  through  his 
nose. 

"  I  must  have  another  officer." 

"I  have  none  to  send  vou." 


190 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XIV. 


iii 


4 


■4 

7 


41 


4. 


FIRST    POSITION. 


Lieutenant  Yarnell  goes  to  the  forward  deck,  and  the  next  moment  his 
scalp  is  torn  by  .a  splinter;  but  he  wipes  away  the  blood  and  sights  his  gun 
once  more. 

A  shot  crashes  through  the  pantry  and  smashes  all  the  plates,  cups,  and 

saucers.  A  little  clog, 
which  has  been  hiding 
there,  leaps  upon  the 
deck  and  sets  up  a  furi- 
ous barking  at  the  Brit- 
ish. 

It  is  half- past  two. 
For  two  hours  and.  a 
half  the  British  cannon 

American  Vessels  :  1.  Scorpion;  2.  Ariel;  3.  Lawrence;  4.  Caledonia; 

5.  Niagara;  6.  Somers;  1.  Porcupine;  S.  Tigress;  9.  Trippe.    Bbitisu  have    been   pOUl'lUg  their 

Vessels:  I.  Chippewa;  II.  Detroit;  III.  Hunter;  IV.  Queen  Char-  ■.           .             .17-' 

lotte;  V.  Lady  Prevost;  VI.  Little  Belt.  SllOt    llltO    the  Lawrence. 

The  battle  is  going 
against  Perry.  The  Laiorence  is  a  helpless  wreck.  In  a  few  minutes 
there  will  not  be  a  man  left.     What  shall  lie  do? 

There  are  supreme  moments  in  men's  lives ;  such  a  moment  has  come 
to  Oliver  Hazard  Perry.  Though 
his  decks  are  running  with  blood, 
though  he  has  but  one  gun  left, 
though  his  ship  is  a  wreck,  he  will 
win  the  victory !  It  is  only  a  great 
soul  that  can  come  to  such  a  deter- 
mination. Astern,  half  a  mile  away, 
is  the  Niagara,  with  as  many  guns 
as  the  Laiorence  had  at  the  begin- 
ning. Scarcely  a  shot  has  struck 
her.  Captain  Elliott,  for  some  rea- 
son, has  not  come  into  the  battle. 
The  other  vessels  of  the  fleet  are  but 
little  injured.  Commodore  Perry 
decides  to  go  on  board  the  Niagara 
and  begin  the  battle  anew.  lie  has 
worn  a  plain  blue  jacket,  but  now 
pulls  it  off  and  puts  on  his  uniform. 

"Lower  the  boat!"  The  order  is  executed,  and,  with  his  flag  under 
Ills  arm,  accompanied  by  his  little  brother,  Commodore  Perry  steps  into  it. 
He  stands  erect.     The  oars  dip,  and  the  boat  shoots  out  from  the  Laio- 


STEPHEN    CHAMI'LIX. 


1813.] 


i&COND  AND  THIRD  YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 


191 


rence.  Captain  Barclay  beholds  it,  and  comprehends  the  meaning.  His 
own  ship,  the  Detroit,  is  almost  a  wreck  from  the  pounding  which  it  has 
had  from  the  great  guns  of  the  Lawrence,  for,  though  silent  now,  they 
have  been  worked  with  terrible  effect.  He  knows  that  if  Perry  gains  the 
deck  of  the  Niagara  the  battle  will  rage  more  furiously  than  ever. 

"  Fire  upon  the  boat !"  are  his  orders,  and  the  shot  plough  the  water 
around  it.     The  oars  are  splintered  ;  one  shot  passes  through  the  boat. 


PERKY   CHANGING    SHIP. 


"Hurrah!  hurrah!"  The  American  sailors  swing  their  hats  and  give 
a  cheer  as  they  behold  their  brave  commander  passing  through  the  storm. 
He  climbs  the  sides  of  the  Niagara,  and  then  up  goes  his  flag  to  the 
mast-head. 

"  Close  action."  That  is  the  meaning  of  the  signal  which  he  flings  out. 
If  the  British  think  that  the  battle  is  nearly  won  they  are  mistaken;  so 
far  as  Perry  is  concerned  it  is  about  to  begin. 

"Double-shot  the  guns!"  The  sailors  on  the  Niagara  ram  home  the 
balls. 

A  breeze  is  freshening  from  the  south-west.  All  the  British  vessels 
are  north  of  the  Niagara.  Perry  determines  to  break  through  Barclay's 
line. 

How  the  spirit  of  that  one  brave  heart  on  the  quarter-deck  of  the 
Niagara  goes  out  over  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie — to  the  farthest  gun-boat, 


192  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XIV. 

and  to  every  sailor  of  the  fleet !     Conquer,  or  go  to  the  bottom !  that  is 
the  feeling. 

The  sailors  square  the  sails  to  the  breeze,  and  each  lagging  vessel 


IT 


fc. 


A 


urn     -d 

&  *         4s 2 


JIT 


A*  * iff^-A 


POSITION    AT    THE    CLOSE    OF    THE    BATTLE. 

The  dotted  line  from  5  to  5  shows  the  course  of  the  Niagara,  and  the  line  from  4  to  4  the  course  of  the 
Caledonia.  British  Vessels :  I.  Chippewa;  TL.  Detroit;  III.  Hunter;  IV.  Queen  Charlotte ;  V.  Lady  Pre- 
vost;  VI.  Little  Belt. — American  Vessels:  1.  Scorpion;  2.  Ariel;  3.  Lawrence;  4.  Caledonia;  5.  Niag- 
ara; 6.  Somers;  1.  Porcupine;  S.  Tigress;  9.  Trippe. 

surges  nearer  to  the  enemy.  The  Niagara  breaks  through  the  line,  hav- 
ing the  Lady  Prevost  on  the  right  side,  and  Chippewa  on  the  left.  The 
double-shotted  guns  sweep  their  decks  from  stem  to  stern.  She  pours  a 
broadside  into  the  Detroit,  dismounting  cannon  and  making  terrible  havoc. 

"Port  the  helm!" 

The  Niagara  sweeps  to  the  right — -giving  broadsides  to  the  Detroit 
and  Queen  Charlotte.  Up  on  the  other  side  of  these  vessels  comes  the 
Caledonia,  her  sides  ablaze. 

Three  o'clock.     For  the  first  time  during  the  three  long  hours  all  the 


FAC-SIMILE    OF    PERRY'S    DESPATCH. 


American  vessels  are  engaged  —  all  except  the  Lawrence,  which  can  no 
longer  work  a  gun,  and  which  lias  pulled  down  its  flag;  but  the  British 


1813.] 


SECOND   AND   THIRD   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


193 


5%  Ch!  Terry  !!!  Cmethatferry! 

i $'•£■*  *'-"  S8  ~  ^ne  disaster  after  another—  J  lime 

v    ^v'li?-^; J?5  -&have  nothalf  mtmi-edojtheBloody-nm 

Aiifl-W-i-  Jt-n  <J  qotat  jTZj.  #/e  Boxinq  Match! 


2>ufieti  Charlotte  ami Sofinnij  'Ball jot  thir dose  of  uerru. 


JOHN  BULL  AND  QUEEN  CHARLOTTE. 

cannot  take  possession  of  her.  Eight  minutes  past  three.  Down  comes 
Commodore  Barclay's  flag,  and  then  one  after  another  the  flag  of  every 
British  vessel. 

The  thunder  of  the  cannon  ceases,  and  Ferry,  standing  on  the  deck  of 
the  Niagara,  writes  upon  the  back  of  an  old  letter  this  despatch  to  Gen- 
eral Harrison : 

"  We  have  met  the  enemy,  and  they  are  ours.     Two  ships,  two  brigs,  one  schooner,  and 
one  shop.1'' 

For  the  first  time  an  American  fleet  had  met  a  British  fleet  and  capt- 
ured it.  The  news  electrified  the  country.  Everywhere  the  deeds  of 
Commodore  Perry  and  the  officers  and  sailors  of  his  fleet  were  rehearsed. 
Verse  writers  were  busy  with  their  pens.     Thus  ran  one  of  the  songs : 

"Bold  Barclay  one  day  to  Proctor  did  say, 
'  I'm  tired  of  Jamaica  and  cherry ; 
So  let  us  go  down  to  that  new  floating  town, 
And  get  some  American  Perry.* 
Oh,  cheap  American  Perry  ! 
Most  pleasant  American  Perry  ! 
We  need  only  all  bear  down,  knock,  and  call, 
And  we'll  have  the  American  Perry.' " 

General  Harrison's  time  for  action  had  come.     He  was  at  Fort  Meigs, 


*  Perry  is  a  drink  made  from  pears. 

13 


194 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XIV. 


with  five  thousand  men  ;  and  now  that  the  British  could  not  interfere  with 
his  crossing  Detroit  Hirer  lie  would  let  Proctor  know  that  there  were 
Mows  to  take  as  well  as  blows  to  give. 

On  September  27  the  fleet  and  army  sailed  across  the  head  of  the  lake 
and  landed  in  Canada,  to  hud  that  Proctor  had  set  Maiden  on  fire,  and  was 
fleeing  northward. 

The  Americans  overtook  him  at  the  River  Thames,  where  Proctor 
formed  his  troops  in  a  narrow  space  between  the  river  and  a  swamp.  It 
was  a  short  battle.  Colonel  Johnson,  with  his  regiment  of  Kentucky 
riflemen,  on  horseback,  dashed  upon  the  Indians  under  Tecumtha,  who  was 
killed.  Proctor  lost  all  courage,  and  fled  at  the  beginning  of  the  bat- 
tle. The  British  troops  gave  way,  and  the  Indians  fled  into  the  swamp. 
In  fifteen  minutes  Proctor's  army  was  scattered  to  the  winds. — five  thou- 
sand guns,  all  the  baggage  captured  ;  the  Indian  confederacy  which  Tecum- 
tha had  organized  broken  ;  the  power  of  the  British  over  the  Indians  gone 
forever. 


THAMES    BATTLE-GKOr.NI>. 


In  contrast,  very  humiliating  was  the  outcome  of  affairs  at  Niagara. 
Generals  Dearborn,  Wilkinson,  and  Hampton,  each,  in  turn,  mismanaged 
military  operations.  The  Secretary  of  War,  General  Armstrong,  made 
things  still  worse. 

Through  the  summer  of  1813  the  Americans  held  a  strip  of  country 
along  Niagara  River,  in  Canada;  but  in  December  General  M'Clure,  who 


1813.] 


SECOND  AND   THIRD   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 


195 


commanded  at  Fort  George,  saw  that  he  must  retreat  to  the  American 
side.  He  did  a  wicked  and  cruel  act,  for  which  there  was  no  excuse — 
burning  the  village  of  Newark.  It  was  bitter  cold,  and  the  poor  people 
were  made  homeless  by  the  unpardonable  crime.  The  British,  to  retaliate, 
crossed  the  river  and  burnt  Bewiston  and  Buffalo.  The  Indians  massa- 
cred Mr.  Buffer's  and  Mr.  Becort's  families  at  Black  Rock  ;  murdered  Mr. 
Gardiner;  killed,  scalped,  and  mangled  sixty  helpless  soldiers  in  the  hos- 
pital at  Fort  Niagara,  and  thirty-three  at  Buffalo.  In  midwinter  men  and 
women  were  obliged  to  flee  from  the  burning  dwellings  to  save  their  lives. 


c-s*7^C_.  ^     -     Jjci?v-e  (*JK/i 


v. 


BOoy 


cunp 


M 


Mill;, 
^-w/i/;  I  M!  Wgit 

T  HO  M  PSON'"'U'Jf.l/-_\jn,,      '  -J -' 111/ 

BRITISH  AND       '      All/ 
INDIANS 
JOHNSON 


maU  dwamp 


33p  fe 


PLAN    OF    THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    THAMES. 


Not  a  life  had  been  taken  at  Newark.  M'Clure  had  burnt  it,  and  the 
American  people  everywhere  condemned  the  cruel  act.  Greater  the  in- 
famy that  will  forever  surround  the  acts  of  Generals  Murray,  Drummond, 
and  Riall  for  allowing  the  Indians  to  massacre  the  unoffending  inhabitants 
alono-  the  Niagara  frontier. 

Nearly  all  the  fighting  up  to  this  time  had  been  done  by  soldiers  who 
had  had  very  little  training.  But  the  Americans,  through  their  repeated 
defeats  and  failures,  had  been  learning  a  lesson.  Discipline  means  educa- 
tion, drill,  subjection  to  rule,  hard  work.     Its  outcome  is  victory. 


196 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XIV 


During  the  winter  of  1813-'14  General  Wiufield  Scott  and  General 
Ripley  were  drilling  their  brigades  at  Buffalo.  General  Brown  was  Com- 
mander-in-chief. His  first  movement  in  the  summer  of  1S14  was  the 
sending  of  General  Scott  across  Niagara  River  opposite  Buffalo  at  night, 
to  take  Fort  Erie.  It  was  done,  and  two  hundred  British  were  captured, 
with  a  loss  of  only  seven  men.  General  Scott  moved  along  the  river  with 
thirteen  hundred  men  to  Street's  Creek,  where  he  found  General  Riall, 
with  seventeen  hundred.  Back  from  the  river  stretched  a  plain,  and  be- 
vond  it  were  thick  woods,  rilled  with  Indians.  General  Porter  swung  out 
toward  them.     Captain  Towson  planted  his  cannon  by  the  river  and  opened 


BUFFALO,   1813. 


fire.  There  was  a  rattling  of  guns  in  the  woods,  and  the  Americans  under 
Porter  retreated ;  but  Colonel  Jessup  came  up  and  stopped  the  British  and 
Indians,  who  were  rushing  on,  yelling  the  war-whoop. 

The  two  armies  were  not  more  than  three  hundred  feet  apart — the 
soldiers  deliberately  firing  into  each  other's  faces. 

General  Scott  discovered  a  gap  in  the  British  line.  Colonel  M'Neil's 
regiment  was  on  his  left  flank.  He  knew  what  stuff  M;Xeil  was  made  of, 
and  directed  him  to  charge  with  the  bayonet.  The  Colonel  addressed  his 
men  : 

"  The  British  say  we  cannot  stand  the  cold  steel.  Give  the  lie  to  the 
slander.     Charge  bayonets !" 


1814.] 


THIRD   YEAE   OF  THE   WAR. 


1QT 


With  a  yell  the  Eleventh  swept  across  the  plain,  their  bayonets  gleam- 
ing in  the  light  of  a  July  sun.  The  British  line  wavers,  then  melts  away 
before  the  onset.  Over  the  plain  flee  the  soldiers  who  have  fought  under 
Wellington  in  Europe;  but  the  charge  is  so  sudden,  unexpected,  and  irre- 
sistible that  they  cannot  stand  before  it. 

Discipline,  training,  submission  to  rule  has  won  the  victory.     The  Brit- 


ish had  lifted  their  guns  breast-high  and  pulled  the  trigger,  while  the  Amer- 
icans had  taken  deliberate  aim.  Their  loss  was  only  three  hundred  and 
thirty-five  ;  the  British,  six  hundred  and  four. 

The  Indians  who  had  come  to  take  scalps,  as  soon  as  they  found  their 
own  in  danger  took  to  their  heels,  and  never  stopped  till  they  reached 
their  haunts  far  away  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Huron. 

Several  thousand  British  troops,  which  had  fought  under  the  Duke  of 


193 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XIV. 


Wellington  in  Spain,  arrived  at  Montreal,  and  were   sent  to  Niagara  to 

General  Kiall.     He  had  nearly  live  thousand  men. 

On  July  25   General   Scott,  with   twelve  hundred  Americans,  started 

from  Chippewa  and  marched 
along  the  river  bank.  Suddenly 
he  found  himself  confronted  by 
the  whole  British  army,  drawn 
up  in  order  of  battle,  along  a 
lane  leading  to  Mrs.  Lnndy's 
house.  It  was  near  the  Falls  of 
Niagara.  What  should  he  do  ? 
lie  could  not  stand  still  and  wait 
for  the  rest  of  the  army,  under 
General  Brown,  to  arrive.  He 
could  not  well  retreat.  In  an 
instant  he  decided  to  strike  such 
a  blow  that  the  British  would 
think  the  whole  of  General 
Brown's  army  was  upon  them. 
The  sun  had  gone  down ;  but 
General  Scott  could  see  that  the 

British  troops  were  arranged  in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  with  seven  cannon 

in  the  centre,  on  a  hill.     He  saw  that  the  line  did  not  extend  to  the  river. 


JOHN    MNEIL. 


VIEW    AT    LUJSDY'S    LANE.   I860. 


1814.] 


THIRD   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


190 


That  was  the  place  to  strike  first.  General  Jessup,  with  his  regiment, 
swept  clown  the  river  bank,  struck  the  end  of  the  British  line,  and  drove 
it  back  toward  the  hill.  General  Riall  galloped  clown  to  his  fleeing  sol- 
diers, and  in  the  darkness  rode 
up  to  the  Americans. 

"  Make  room  for  General 
Riall  to  pass  !"  shouted  an  aid. 

"Ay,  ay, sir,''  said  Captain 
Ketchum. 

The  troops  moved  aside. 
General  Riall  and  his  officers 
rode  through,  but  the  next 
moment  found  that  they  were 
prisoners. 

The  British  sweep  clown 
upon  the  Americans,  but  are 
driven  back  again  to  the  hill. 

General  Brown  arrives  and 
General  Ripley,  with  his  bri- 
gade, making  the  Americans 
twenty -six  hundred  against 
forty-five  hundred  British.  It  is  just  nine  o'clock,  and  the  last  ray  of  twi- 
light has  faded  away.  Upon  the  hill  the  British  cannon  are  flaming,  and 
Captain  Towson  with  his  two  guns  can  make  only  a  feeble  reply. 

"You  cannot  hope  to  win  the  battle  unless  you  silence  those  cannon 
on  the  hill,"  Major  M'Ree — a  sharp-sighted  engineer — remarks  to  General 
Brown. 

"Then  the  battery  must  be  taken/' 

General  Brown  knows  the  man  who  can  take  it  —  Colonel  James 
Miller,  who  was  born  amid  the  granite  hills  of  New  Hampshire,  in  April, 
1776,  six  days  after  the  boys  of  '76  drove  the  British  from  Concord  back 
to  Boston  and  cooped  them  up  in  that  town.  In  his  boyhood  he  heard 
his  father  tell  over  and  over  again  the  story  of  Bunker  Hill,  Bennington, 
and  Saratoga.  He  was  with  Harrison  at  Tippecanoe,  lie  is  now  Colonel 
of  the  Twenty-first  Regiment  of  United  States  troops  —  brave,  strict  in 
discipline,  but  kind-hearted;  his  soldiers  love  him,  and  have  faith  in 
him.  The  supreme  moment  of  his  life  has  come.  General  Brown  rides 
up  to  hi  in. 

"Colonel  Miller,  I  want  you  to  take  that  battery." 

Seven  guns  are  pouring  solid  shot,  shell,  and  canister  upon  the  Amer- 


JAMES    MILLER. 


200  BUILDING  THE  NAT10X.  [Chap.  XIV. 

icans,  making  terrible  havoc.  Back  of  the  cannon  are  soldiers  who  have 
fought  at  Talavera  and  Salamanca,  in  Spain.  Pie  must  march  straight 
up  the  hill,  driving  the  British  with  the  bayonet.  lie  has  but  three 
hundred  men.     Can  it  be  done?     No  demur  or  hesitation. 

"  I'll  try,  sir." 

No  other  answer.  They  are  words  which  will  go  down  the  ages — 
forever  an  inspiration  to  earnest  souls. 

Colonel  Nicholas's  regiment  is  already  giving  way  before  the  terrible 
fire  of  the  guns,  but  that  is  nothing  to  this  self-possessed  man.  In  double 
files  the  three  hundred  move  up  the  hill  till  they  are  within  fifty  feet  of 
the  cannon. 

"  Take  aim.     Fire  !" 

The  three  hundred  muskets  flash. 

"  Charge  !"  They  rush  forward  amid  the  guns.  They  meet  the  Brit- 
ish. There  are  bayonet  thrusts,  sabre  strokes — the  clashing  of  steel,  the 
hand-to-hand  grapple.  The  melee  ends,  and  the  three  hundred — what  is 
left  of  them — stand  there  victorious.     Discipline  has  won. 

The  battle  was  over  —  the  British  in  retreat.  General  Brown  and 
General  Scott  were  both  wounded,  and  the  command  devolved  on  Gen- 
eral Ripley,  who,  instead  of  holding  the  hill,  very  strangely  marched  back 
a  mile  to  reorganize  the  army,  leaving  the  cannon.  General  Drummond, 
commanding  the  British,  when  morning  came,  seeing  the  cannon  still 
there,  took  possession  of  them  once  more. 

General  Gaines  arrived  and  took  command  of  the  Americans.  He 
was  at  Fort  Erie,  which  General  Drummond  tried  to  capture,  but  who 
was  repulsed  with  great  loss.  Drummond  then  erected  batteries,  and 
poured  shot  and  shell  into  the  fort ;  but  on  September  17,  a  little  after 
midnight,  the  Americans  moved  silently  out,  made  a  rush,  drove  the 
British,  and  spiked  the  guns.  General  Drummond  lost  so  many  men — ■ 
between  eight  and  nine  hundred — that  he  hastened  to  get  beyond  Chip- 
pewa River. 

The  country  rung  with  the  praises  of  General  Brown,  General  Scott, 
and  General  Gaines,  who  had  redeemed  it  from  dishonor.  But  discipline 
was  behind  it  all. 

Great  events  were  taking  place  in  Europe.  Napoleon  had  abdicated 
his  crown,  and  was  on  the  island  of  Elba,  in  the  Mediterranean.  The 
British  troops  which  had  been  lighting  him  were  pouring  into  Canada, 
where  Sir  George  Prevost  was  making  preparations  to  invade  the  United 
States  by  Lake  Champlain — following  the  track  of  Burgoyne. 

He  had  fourteen  thousand  men,  besides  a  fleet  of  vessels  on  the  lake 


»    '  ! '  If 


ismSLl'l    ''i1 


MMliL  //Jar      11 

» ftsr      'I 


I— IK;  ,f 

in  iiiir 


VpHI 

■-.!+      fill  ■',;.'■:.  W        I 


«™iwH«.'«HI 


«V 


ill 


^Vi 


III 

MB 


llllllill 

59HKI  M  -illl 


1814.] 


THIRD   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 


203 


— the  Confiance,  carrying  thirty-eight  guns  ;  Linnet,  sixteen  ;  Chub,  eleven  ; 
Finch,  eleven  ;  eight  gun-boats,  each  carrying  two  guns,  and  four  carry- 
ing one  gun  each — sixteen  vessels,  carrying  ninety-five  guns. 

With  such  an  army  he  would  make  quick  work  with  General  Macomb, 
who  was  at  Plattsburg,  with  thirty-five  hundred  Americans,  of  whom  more 
than  one  thousand  were  sick ;  and  with  such  a  fleet  he  would  sweep  from 
the  lake  the  American  vessels  —  the  Saratoga,  twenty  -six  guns;  Eagle, 
twenty-six  ;  Ticonderoga,  seventeen  ;  Preble,  seven  ;  and  ten  gun-boats — 
in  all  fourteen  vessels,  carrying  eighty-six  guns. 

The  British  fleet  was  commanded  by  Captain  Downie,  the  American 
by  Commodore  Macdonough. 

The  British  army  and  fleet  were  to  attack  at  the  same  moment. 

On  September  11  the  British  fleet  appeared.  Commodore  Mac- 
donough stationed  the  Preble  near  Crab  Island,  next  in  line  the  Ticon- 
deroga,, Eagle,  and  last  the  Saratoga,  his  flag- ship.  They  formed  the 
front  line  across  the  entrance  of  Plattsburg  harbor.  Behind  them  were 
the  gun-boats. 

Just  before  the  British  were  near  enough  to  open  lire  Commodore 
Macdonough  knelt  upon  the  deck  of  the  Saratoga,  with  all  his  officers 
and  men  around  him,  and  offered 
a  prayer  to  Almighty  God.  The 
next  moment  he  sights  a  cannon 
and  fires  a  shot,  which  smashes 
the  wheel  of  Captain  Downie's 
flag-ship,  the  Co?ijiance,  and  kills 
several  men.  Now  comes  a  broad- 
side from  the  Linnet  into  the 
Saratoga,  one  of  the  balls  de- 
stroying the  hen-coop,  and  a  pet 
game-cock  flies  out,  lights  upon  a 
gun,  flaps  his  wings,  and  gives  a 
lusty  crow.  The  sailors  swing 
their  hats  over  the  omen  of  victory. 

A  sheet  of  flame  bursts  from 
the  Confiance  —  sixteen  double- 
shotted  twenty -four -pounders  at 
once,  all  aimed   at  the  Saratoga, 

killing  forty  of  the  crew,  among  them  Lieutenant  Gamble.  But  a  ball 
from  the  Saratoga  a  moment  later  dismounts  a  cannon  on  the  Confiance 
and  indirectly  kills  Captain  Downie. 


THOMAS    MACDONOUGH. 


204 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XIV 


VIEW    FROM    CUMBERLAND    HEAD. 


The 
terrible 


Eagle  sends  broadside  after  broadside  into  the  Linnet  with  such 
effect  that  in  five  minutes  her  flag  comes  down,  and  a  loud  hurrah 

from  the  Americans  is  heard 
above  the  roar  of  battle.  A 
little  later  the  Finch,  in  try- 
ing to  escape  from  the  terri- 
ble fire  of  the  Ticonderoga, 
drifts  upon  the  rocks  and  sur- 
renders. 

While  this  is  going  on  the 
fourteen  British  gun-boats  pour 
such  a  fire  into  the  Preble  that 
she  is  compelled  to  move  far- 
ther up  the  harbor.  All  of  the 
guns  on  one  side  of  the  Sara- 
toga are  disabled,  and  the  Lin- 
net is  raking  her  from  stem  to 
stern. 

Commander    Macdonough 
Alexander  macomb.  is  quick  to  act.     lie  sends  out 


1814.] 


THIRD   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 


205 


a  small  boat  with  an  anchor,  the  sailors  take  up  the  cable,  and  the  Sara- 
toga swings  slowly  round,  paying  no  attention  for  the  moment  to  the 
Linnet,  but  sending  such  a  broadside  into  the  Confiance  that  her  captain 
pulls  down  his  flag.  Now  it  is  the  Linnefs  turn,  and  the  shot  crash  into 
her  sides  till  her  flag  comes  down. 

The  Ticonderoga  and  American  gun-boats  have  been  fighting  the  four- 
teen British  gun-boats,  which  one  after  another  strike  their  colors. 

On  land  the  battle  has  been  waxing  hot.  The  Americans  are  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Saranac  River,  the  British  on  the  north.     General  Pre- 


vost  places  his  cannon  in  position,  pouring  a  shower  of  shot  and  shell 
across  the  stream. 

The  troops  advance,  one  column  fording  the  river  above  the  town, 
and  gaining  a  foothold  on  the  south  bank,  then  attempting  to  ford  the 
stream  at  the  village,  but  are  driven  back.     Again  they  advance. 

.Messengers  are  riding  in  hot  haste  with  the  news  that  the  British  fleet 
has  surrendered.  A  wild  cheer  goes  up  from  the  Americans,  and  the 
British,  losing  heart,  flee  to  the  north  shore.  It  is  all  over  with  Sir 
George  Prevost.  lie  has  lost  his  fleet.  He  hastens  back  to  Canada, 
leavins  all  his  sick  and  wounded. 


20G 


BUILDING   THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XIT 


BATTLE    OF    PLATTSBFEG.       (FROM    AX    OLD    PRINT. 


The  country  rings  with    the  praises  of    Macomb   and  Macdonongh. 
Everywhere  were  suno;  the  sonsrs  composed  by  village  rhvmsters: 


"  Oh,  Johnny  Bull,  my  jo,  John, 

Behold  on  Lake  Charaplaiu, 
With  more  than  equal  foe,  John, 

You  tried  your  fist  again. 
But  the  cock  saw  how  'twas  going. 

And  cried  '  Cock-a-doodle-doo  !' 
And  Macdonough  was  victorious, 

Oh,  Johnny  Bull,  my  jo.11  • 


1812.] 


CLOSE   OF   THE   WAR  WITH  ENGLAND. 


207 


CHAPTER   XV. 


CLOSE   OF   THE   WAR   WITH   ENGLAND. 


IjST  1812,  after  General  Hull's  surrender  at  Detroit,  Tecuratlia,  his  brother 
Elks-wa-tawa,  and  thirty  Indians,  prepared  to  make  a  journey  South,  to 
enlist  the  Indians  of  Alabama  and  Georgia  against  the  Americans.  The 
British  General  Proctor  urged  them  on.  The  British  called  Tecumtha's 
attention  to  a  faint  star  in  the  northern  shy,  which  every  night  was  grow- 
ing brighter — a  comet — the  harbinger  of  war. 

Tecumtha  and  his  followers  made  their  way  through  the  woods  of  In- 
diana, Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  and  visited  the  Chickasaws  and  Choc- 
taws.  They  would  not  go  to  war  against  the  Americans,  but  the  Creeks 
were  ready  to  listen  to  him.  A  great  council  was  held  at  the  Falls  of 
Tallapoosa  —  a  gathering  of  five  thousand  Indians,  who  blackened  their 
faces,  put  eagles'  feathers  in  their  hair,  and  fastened  buffalo  tails  to  their 
girdles,  which  trailed  upon  the  ground  as  they  marched  with  haughty 
strides,  brandishing  their  tomahawks. 

The  chiefs  welcomed  Tecumtha — -all  but  one  —  Captain  Isaac,  who 
wore  buffalo  horns  on  his  head,  and  who  shook  them  at  Tecumtha. 

"  The  chief  from  the  lake  is  a  bad  man,"  he  said. 

"You  do  not  believe  that  the  Great  Spirit  has  sent  me,"  said  Tecum- 
tha. "You  shall  believe  it.  I  shall  go  home  to  Detroit.  When  I  get 
there  you  will  see  my  arm  all  on  fire  up  in  the  northern  sky.  I  will 
stamp  my  foot,  and  make  the  ground  tremble  and  shake  your  houses." 

The  agent  of  the  British  at  Pensacola  would  supply  the  Creeks  with 
guns  and  powder,  and  was  ready  to  pay  them  five  dollars  for  every  Ameri- 
can scalp  taken. 

Tecumtha  departed. 

The  Creeks  beheld  in  amazement  a  fiery  star  with  a  long  trail  slowly 
sweeping  night  after  night  across  the  northern  sky. 

"It  is  Tecumtha's  arm,"  they  said.  Suddenly  they  felt  the  ground 
tremble.  It  was  the  rumbling  of  an  earthquake  which  shook  the  houses. 
"  Tecumtha  is  stamping  his  foot,"  they  cried.     His  words  had  proved  true : 


206 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XV. 


the  Great  Spirit  had  sent  him.  They  conld  doubt  no  longer,  and  made 
ready  for  war.  On  the  east  bank  of  the  Alabama  River,  near  its  junction 
with  the  Tombigbee,  stood  Fort  Nims.  The  settlers,  fearing  an  attack, 
had  fled  to  the  fort  for  protection.  In  all  there  were  now  there  five  hun- 
dred soldiers,  citizens,  women,  and  children.  Major  Beasley  commanded 
the  troops. 

"  The  woods  are  full  of  Indians,"  said  two  negro  slaves,  who  had  been 
out  pasturing  cattle,  and  who,  out  of  breath,  came  running  into  the  fort, 
August  29, 1813. 

Major  Beasley  sent  out  some  scouts,  who  came  back  and  said  that  it 
was  a  lie — they  had  not  seen  any  Indians. 

"I'll  teach  you  to  tell  a  lie,"'  said  Major  Beasley,  who  tied  up  one  of 
the  negroes  and  had  his  back  cut  to  pieces  with  a  whip. 

Noon  came,  August  30.  The  soldiers  were  at  dinner;  the  gate  of  the 
fort  was  wide  open — suddenly  the  people  heard  the  war-whoop  and  beheld 
the  Indians  rushing  in.     The  other  negro,  who  had  not  been  whipped,  but 

who  was  tied  up  to  a  post, 
was  the  first  one  shot.  Major 
Beasley,  who  had  refused  to 
believe  his  story,  went  down. 
The  fight  began,  and  lasted 
from  twelve  till  live.  When 
it  was  ended  more  than  four 
hundred  men,  women,  and 
children  were  lying  upon  the 
ground,  mangled  by  the  In- 
dians. Only  twelve  white 
men  escaped.  The  Indians 
spared  the  negroes  and  made 
them  their  slaves.  The  In- 
dians made  their  way  to  Pen- 
sacola,  the  scalps  of  women 
and  girls  dangling  at  their 
belts,  and  received  their  re- 
ward from  the  British  Gov- 
ernment— five  dollars  given  for  every  scalp! 

James  Robertson,  of  Tennessee,  was  the  agent  of  the  United  States  to 
the  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws.  He  had  great  influence  with  them,  for  he 
treated  them  with  kindness;  instead  of  joining  the  Creeks,  they  were  ready 
to  fisht  them. 


JAMES    KOBEUTSOX. 


1812.] 


CLOSE   OF   THE   WAR   WITH  ENGLAND. 


209 


General  Andrew  Jackson  was  appointed  commander  of  the  Southern 
Department;  General  Coffee  was  his  second  in  command.  They  defeated 
the  Creeks  at  Talladega,  where  the  Indians  lost  nearly  three  hundred. 
Their  great  leader  was  Weathersford,  a  half-breed,  who  was  brave  and 
humane.  He  gathered  his  tribe  at  a  bend  in  the  River  Tallapoosa, 
shaped  like  a  horseshoe.  The  women  and  children  were  there.  He  had 
a  great  quantity  of  corn,  and 
erected  breastworks,  deter- 
mined to  defend  it  to  the  last. 
There  were  more  than  twelve 
hundred  Indians  in  ail. 

General  Jackson  had  two 
thousand  soldiers  and  friendly 
Indians  and  two  cannon.  He 
sent  General  Coffee,  with  the 
friendly  Indians  and  a  portion 
of  the  troops,  to  the  south  side 
of  the  bend,  to  prevent  the 
Indians  from  escaping,  and 
attacked  the  breastworks  with 
the  rest  of  the  troops.  The 
Indians  opened  fire.  Colonel 
Williams,  with  the  United 
States  troops,  led  the  advance. 
Behind  them  came  the  volun- 
teers from  Tennessee.  "Follow  me!"  shouted  Major  Montgomery,  leap- 
ing upon  the  breastworks,  to  go  down  with  a  bullet  through  his  brain.  By 
his  side  was  a  boy — Sam  Houston — who  was  wounded  by  a  barbed  arrow. 

Over  the  breastworks  streamed  the  soldiers,  bayonetting  the  Indians, 
who  soon  fled  in  terror — some  swam  the  river,  to  be  shot  down  by  the 
men  under  Coffee. 

"  All  who  will  surrender  shall  be  spared,"  shouted  a  messenger  to  the 
Indians,  repeating  Jackson's  order;  but  the  Creeks,  instead  of  surrender- 
ing, shot  the  messenger.  The  exasperated  soldiers  then  shot  them  down 
without  mercy.  Of  the  one  thousand  Indian  warriors,  all  except  two 
hundred  were  killed.  Jackson  lost  one  hundred  and  twenty-five.  The 
chief,  Weathersford,  escaped  on  a  horse ;  but  he  could  light  no  longer — 
nearly  all  his  warriors  had  been  killed. 

The  sun  was  setting,  five  days  after  the  battle,  when  a  man  on  a  white 
horse  rode  up  to  General  Jackson's  tent  and  alighted. 

1-1 


JOHN    COFFEE. 


210 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XV. 


"  I  am  Weathersford,1'  he  said.  "  I  have  nothing  to  request  for  myself 
— you  can  kill  me ;  but  I  came  to  beg  for  the  lives  of  the  women  and  chil- 
dren, who  are  starving  in  the  woods.  I  hope  you  will  send  out  parties  to 
bring  them  in  and  feed  them.  I  did  what  I  could  to  prevent  the  mas- 
sacre at  Fort  jSTims.  I  have  fought  the  United  States ;  if  I  had  an  army  I 
would  still  fight,  but  I  have  not.  I  ask  nothing  for  myself.  I  am  your 
prisoner.     For  my  people,  I  can  only  weep  over  their  misfortunes." 


General  Jackson  admired  him;  but  there  was  no  safety  for  the  brave 
man  even  under  General  Jackson's  protection.  The  relatives  of  those  who 
had  been  massacred  at  Fort  Niins  thirsted  for  his  blood.  He  was  obliged 
to  flee ;  but  when  the  war  with  England  was  over  he  returned,  and  be- 
came a  respected  citizen  of  Alabama.  The  troops  went  out,  and  brought 
in  the  Indians  and  gave  them  food.     So  the  Creek  war  was  ended. 

The  President  and  the  Cabinet  and  nearly  everybody  else  thought, 
when  the  war  began,  that  the  fighting  would  all  be  along  the  lakes  and  in 
Canada.  The  idea  now  came  to  them  that  England  would  threaten  Wash- 
ington and  Baltimore.     In  August,  1814,  a  great  fleet,  commanded  by 


1814.] 


CLOSE   OF   THE   WAR    WITH  ENGLAND. 


211 


Admiral  Cockburn,  and  several 
thousand  troops,  under  General 
Ross,  made  their  appearance  in 
the  Chesapeake.  Commodore 
Barney,  who  commanded  a  fleet 
of  gun-boats,  was  obliged  to  flee 
up  the  Patuxent  River.  The 
British  followed,  and  Barney 
destroyed  his  boats.  General 
Ross  and  Admiral  Cockburn 
landed,  and  the  British  army 
marched  toward  Washington, 
only  twenty  miles  distant. 

President  Madison  and  the 
inefficient  Secretary  of  War, 
General  Armstrong,  were  as- 
tounded. Orders  were  issued 
for  the  militia  of  Maryland  to 
hasten  and  repel  the  invaders. 
They  were  commanded  by  General 
who  had  a  hard  task  before  him ; 
ever  lived  could  have  done  very  1 


WILLIAM  II.  WINDKK. 


JOSHUA    BARNEY. 

Winder,  a  brave  and  gallant  officer, 
but  the  ablest  and  bravest  man  that 
ittle  under  the  circumstances.  The 
British  army  was  composed  of 
veteran  troops.  The  Ameri- 
cans were  mostly  farmers — • 
men  who  had  had  no  military 
training. 

]Sro  one  knows  how  the  story 
started,  but  it  was  whispered 
|fe  that  the  slaves  in  Maryland 
and  Virginia  were  going  to 
\jj  take  the  opportunity  to  make 
themselves  free,  by  murdering 
their  masters  and  mistresses. 
There  was  not  a  word  of  truth 
in  it ;  but  women  whispered  it, 
with  white  lips,  and  many  of 
the  militia  were  very  reluctant 
to  leave  their  homes.  Those 
who   hastened    to   the  rendez- 


212 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XV. 


vous  had  only  shot-guns.  They  were  undisciplined.  What  could  they  do 
against  soldiers  who  had  been  fighting  in  France  and  Spain  ?  The  British 
troops  numbered  live  thousand,  while  General  Winder  had  but  thirty-five 
hundred.  Yet  he  determined  to  fight  a  battle  at  Bladensburg.  Presi- 
dent Madison,  General  Armstrong,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  James 
Monroe,  were  there,  but  hindered  far  more  than  they  helped  by  giving 
orders — thus  upsetting  his  plans. 


BRIDGE    AT    BLADENSBUKG. 


The  Americans  were  on  the  west  bank  of  the  eastern  branch  of  the 
Potomac,  which  General  Ross  must  cross  before  he  could  reach  Washing- 
ton. The  sailors,  under  Commodore  Barney,  fought  bravely.  General  Ross 
lost  more  than  five  hundred  men  before  getting  across  the  river  ;  but  when 
he  got  a  foothold  on  the  west  side  he  turned  the  left  flank  of  the  militia, 
who  threw  down  their  guns  and  fled,  and  the  British  marched  on  to  Wash- 
ington. Admiral  Cockburn,  vice-admiral  of  the  English  navy,  a  high 
officer  with  great  pay,  entered  the  Capitol,  which  was  only  partly  finished, 
stood  in  the  Speaker's  chair  with  his  muddy  boots,  swung  his  hat,  and 
gave  a  cheer. 

''Burn  the  building!"  he  shouted,  and  very  soon  the  flames  were  burst- 
ing out  of  the  windows. 

All  the  records,  all  the  government  papers,  the  library — all  were  con- 
sumed ;  nothing  but  the  blackened  walls  remained.  Sir  George  Cockburn 
did  not  comprehend  what  the  verdict  of  the  world  would  be — that  though 


1814.]  CLOSE   OF  THE  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  215 

an  Englishman,  a  vice-admiral,  a  baronet,  lie  was  nevertheless  a  barba- 


rian. 


He  sent  Lieutenant  Pratt,  of  the  navy,  to  burn  the  President's  house, 
from  which  Mrs.  Madison  had  just  fled,  carrying  away  the  portrait  of  Wash- 
ington in  her  arms  to  save  it  from  the  marauders. 

The  Treasury  buildings,  the  Arsenal,  barracks  for  soldiers,  the  office  of 
the  National  Intelligencer,  private  houses,  and  hotels — all  were  licked  up 
by  the  flames. 


THE    CAPITOL    AFTER    THE    FIRE. 


At  midnight  the  British  silently  stole  away,  leaving  their  wounded 
for  the  Americans  to  care  for.  They  reached  their  ships,  sailed  down  the 
river  and  along  Chesapeake  Bay,  sending  expeditions  on  shore  to  plunder 
the  people  and  burn  the  dwellings. 

Sir  Peter  Parker,  commanding  the  frigate  Menelaus,  Admiral  Cock- 
burn  and  General  Boss,  and  other  officers,  went  on  shore  at  a  little  vil- 
lage where  there  were  only  women  and  children. 

"  I  give  you  ten  minutes  to  get  out  of  your  houses  before  I  set  them  on 
fire,"  said  Cockburn. 


PRESIDENT  S    HOUSE    AFTER    THE    FIRE. 


216 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XV. 


One  of  the  officers  wrote  to  his  friends  in  England  about  it. 
"  We  most  valiantly,''  he  said,  "  set  fire  to  the  unprotected  property,  not- 
withstanding the  tears  of  the  women,  and,  like  a  parcel  of  savages,  as  we 
were,  danced  around  the  wreck  of  ruin.  We  came  to  a  dwelling-house 
on  the  beach.  Like  midnight  murderers  we  cautiously  approached  the 
house.  The  door  was  open,  and  we  unceremoniously  intruded  ourselves 
upon  three  young  ladies  sitting  quietly  at  tea.  Sir  George  Cockburn,  Sir 
Peter  Parker,  and  myself  entered  the  room  rather  suddenly,  and  a  simul- 
taneous scream  was  our  welcome. 

"Sir  George  was  austere,  but  Sir  Peter  was  the  handsomest  man  in 

the  navy,  and  to  the  latter  the 
ladies  appealed.  Cockburn  told 
them  that  he  knew  their  father 
to  be  an  American  officer — a 
colonel  of  militia  —  and  that,  his 
duty  being  to  burn  their  house, 
he  gave  them  ten  minutes  for  re- 
moving what  they  most  desired 
to  save.  The  young  women,  on 
their  knees,  begged  the  admiral 
to  spare  their  house. 

"  The  youngest,  a  girl  of  six- 
teen, and  lovely  beyond  the  gen- 
eral beauty  of  those  parts,  threw 
herself  at  Sir  Peters  feet  and 
prayed  him  to  interfere.  The 
tears  started  from  his  eyes  in  a 
moment,  and  I  was  so  bewil- 
dered at  the  afflicting  scene  that  I  appeared  to  see  through  a  thick 
mist. 

"  Cockburn  was  unmoved,  with  his  watch  on  the  table,  measuring  the 
fleeting  minutes.  The  other  girls  were  in  tears,  asking  for  mercy.  Sir 
Peter  had  opened  his  lips  to  plead  for  them,  when  the  brutal  Cockburn 
stopped  him.  and  ordered  his  men  to  bring  the  fire-balls.  Never  shall  I 
forget  the  despair  of  that  moment.  Poor  Sir  Peter  wept  like  a  child, 
while  the  girl  clung  to  his  knees  and  impeded  his  retreat.  Admiral  Cock- 
burn walked  out  with  his  usual  haughty  stride,  followed  by  the  two  elder 
girls,  who  vainly  implored  him  to  countermand  the  order.  In  a  moment 
the  house  was  in  flames.  We  retreated  from  the  scene  of  ruin,  leaving  the 
three  daughters  gazing  at  the  work  of  destruction,  which  made  the  inno- 


ilKS.    JIADIsON. 


1814.] 


CLOSE   OF   THE   WAR   WITH   ENGLAND. 


217 


ADMIRAL    SIR    l'KTER    PARKER. 


cent  houseless  and  the  affluent 

beggars.  .  .  .   By  the  light  of 

that  house   we   embarked   and 

returned  on   board.     It  was   a 

scene    which    impressed    itself 

upon  my  heart,  and  which  my 

memory  and  my  hand  unwill- 
ingly recall  and  publish." 

"I  must  have  a  frolic  with 

the  Yankees,1'  said   Sir  Peter 

Parker,  and  he  crossed  the  bay 

and  landed  his  marines  to  plun- 
der Moorsfield.     He  landed  in 

the  night,  marched  toward  the 

village,  but  suddenly  was  con- 
fronted by  a  flashing  of  guns. 

The  citizens  of  Moorsfield  had 

turned    out    to    defend    their 

homes.     Nineteen  of  the  British  were  killed.     One  of  the  number  was  Sir 

Peter. 

"  I  shall  make  my  winter-quarters  at  Baltimore,1'  said  General  Ross 

as  the  fleet  sailed  toward  that 
city.  "  It  is  a  doomed  town,'1 
said  Vice-admiral  Warren. 

Baltimore  had  forty  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  and  would  be 
a  delightful  place  to  winter  in. 
At  midnight,  September 
11,  General  Boss  landed  at 
North  Point,  fifteen  miles 
from  Baltimore,  with  nine 
thousand  men.  He  would 
march  to  the  city,  while  the 
fleet  would  sail  up  and  de- 
molish Fort  M'llenrv. 

General  Samuel  Smith, 
who  had  been  appointed  to 
command  the  troops  which 
were  to  defend  Baltimore,  was 
cool-headed,  brave,  and  ener- 


1 


SAMUEL    SMITH. 


218 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XV. 


getic.     The  citizens  determined  to  make  a  brave  fight.     General  Smith 

had  nine  thousand  men.  He  sent  General  Strieker,  with  thirty-two  hun- 
dred, down  the  road  lead- 
ing to  North  Point,  to  an- 
noy the  British  in  their  ad- 
vance. General  Strieker 
posted  his  men  where  there 
was  a  creek  on  one  flank 
and  a  marsh  on  the  other. 
He  sent  one  hundred  and 
fifty  riflemen  down  to  Mr. 
Cole's  store,  to  see  what 
General  Ross  was  doing. 
Two  of  them,  Daniel  Wells 
and  Henry  C.  M'Comas, 
had  been  in  the  battle  of 
Bladensburg.  They  con- 
cealed themselves  in  a  hol- 
low, and  soon  discovered 
the  British  army  advanc- 
ing. 
Admiral  Cockburn  was  riding  with  General  Ross,  and  they  were  very 

jolly  over  the  prospect  of  soon  being  in  Baltimore. 

The  one  hundred  and  fifty  riflemen  suddenly  open  fire,  and  the  British 

reply.     General  Ross  rides  up  to  see  what  is  going  on.     Daniel  and  Henry 


GENERAL    STRK'KER. 


BATTLE-GROUND    AT    NORTH    POINT. 


fire  at  him,  and  he  falls  from   his   horse   mortally  wounded.      The   next 
moment  both  of  the  brave  men  are  shot  down. 

Colonel  Brooke  takes  command  of  the  British,  who  rush  on  to  avenge 


1814.] 


CLOSE   OF   THE   WAR   WITH  ENGLAND. 


219 


the  death  of  their  commander;  but  for  two  hours  the  twenty-five  hundred 
Americans  hold  their  ground,  then  slowly  fall  back  half  a  mile  to  the 
intrenchments  which  General  Smith  has  erected. 

Colonel  Brooke  condescended  to  wait  till  Admiral  Cockburn  could 
batter  Fort  M'Henry  to  pieces,  and  silence  the  guns  in  the  batteries  along 
the  shore,  before  attacking  General  Smith. 

Major  George  Armistead  commanded  the  fort,  and  Commodore  Rod- 
gers  of  the  navy  the  batteries. 

The  morning  of  September  13  dawns,  and  sixteen  war- vessels  open  fire 
upon  the  fort  and  batteries  along  the  shore.  All  day  and  night  shot  and 
shell  are  rained  upon  the  fort. 


REMAINS    OF   BATTERY. 


When  the  sun  goes  down  the  people  in  Baltimore  wonder  if,  when  it 
rises,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  will  still  be  flying.  In  the  dim  gray  of  the 
morning  the  thunder  suddenly  ceases.     Has  the  fort  surrendered  % 

From  the  steeples,  from  the  house-tops,  the  people  gaze  with  anxious 
eyes  toward  the  fort.  The  sun  rises — it  is  still  there.  The  British  ships 
are  sailing  away,  and  the  British  army  is  hastening  on  board  their  vessels. 
In  the  enthusiasm  of  the  moment  Francis  S.  Key  takes  an  old  letter  from 
his  pocket  and  writes  upon  it  the  song  of  the  "  Star-spangled  Banner :" 

"  Oh  say !  can  you  see,  by  the  dawn's  early  light, 

What  so  proudly  we  hail'd  at  the  twilight's  last  gleaming, 
Whose  broad  stripes  and  bright  stars,  through  the  perilous  fight, 

O'er  the  ramparts  we  watch'd  were  so  gallantly  streaming  ? 
And  the  rocket's  red  glare,  the  bomb  bursting  in  air, 
Gave  proof  through  the  night  that  our  flag  was  still  there  ? 

Oh  say !  does  that  star-spangled  banner  yet  wave 

O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave  ?" 

Admiral  Cockburn,  instead  of  plundering  and  burning  Baltimore,  as 
he  had  Washington,  hastened  down  the  Chesapeake. 


220  BUILDING   THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XV. 

There  was  great  rejoicing  in  London  when  the  news  arrived  of  the 
burning:  of  Washing-ton.  The  cannon  in  the  Tower  were  fired,  and  Par- 
liament  passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Admiral  Cockbnrn.  When,  a  few  days 
later,  news  was  received  of  the  death  of  General  Ross,  Parliament  set  up 
a  monument  to  him  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and  authorized  his  descendants 
to  style  themselves  as  "  Ross  of  Bladensburg."  The  London  Times,  which 
represented  the  aristocracy  of  England,  had  this  to  say  : 

"  That  ill-organized  association  (the  American  Republic)  is  on  the  eve 
of  dissolution,  and  the  world  is  speedily  to  be  delivered  of  the  mischievous 
example  of  a  government  founded  on  democratic  rebellion." 

When  Admiral  Cockburn  died,  in  1S53,  the  London  Times  spoke  of 
the  burning  of  the  Capitol  as  a  "  splendid  achievement.'" 

There  were  a  few  men  in  England  who  were  ready  to  hide  their  faces 
in  shame  over  the  terrible  atrocities  committed  by  Cockbnrn,  who  will 
ever  be  known  in  history  as  a  barbarian  and  marauder;  but  most  of  the 
dukes,  lords,  and  nobles  gloried  over  Ids  acts.  In  the  United  States  there 
was  deep  mortification  over  the  national  humiliation.  Secretary  of  War 
Armstrong,  who  had  mismanaged  military  affairs  from  the  beginning,  was 
obliged  to  resign. 

Far  reaching  was  the  effect  of  the  humiliation.  It  aroused  a  hostility 
toward  England  —  a  sense  of  injury — which,  though  seventy  years  have 
rolled  away,  is  still  felt  by  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

Those  were  weary  days  to  President  Madison.  There  was  very  little 
gold  or  silver  money  in  the  country.  The  United  States  Treasury  issued 
its  notes — promises  to  pay — to  the  soldiers,  and  to  those  who  were  selling 
beef, flour,  and  supplies;  but  everybody  was  asking  when  the  notes  would 
be  paid.  The  credit  of  the  government  began  to  decline.  The  ships  of 
the  country  were  destroyed  or  blockaded.  Grass  was  growing:  in  the 
streets  of  the  seaports. 

The  President  had  divided  the  country  into  military  districts,  and  gave 
the  generals  authority  to  call  out  the  militia.  Governor  Strong,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, maintained  that  the  governors  of  the  States,  at  the  request  of  the 
President,  alone,  were  authorized  to  order  out  the  militia;  and  because  the 
troops  of  that  State  and  of  Connecticut  were  not  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Dearborn,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  Secretary 
of  War  refused  to  pay  any  of  the  expenses  which  had  been  incurred  by 
those  States.  The  people  of  New  England  complained  that  the  govern- 
ment had  treated  them  unfairly.  Their  ships  were  destroyed  or  were 
rotting  at  the  wharves,  their  industries  paralyzed.  The  President  had. 
it  was  asserted,  issued  orders  not  authorized  by  the  Constitution. 


!>?liJ( 


C 


1814.  J 


CLOSE   OF   THE  WAR  WITH   ENGLAND. 


223 


In  December,  1815,  twenty-six  delegates  from  the  New  England  States 
assembled  in  convention  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  discussed  the  power 
of  the  national  government,  and  prepared  amendments  to  the  Constitu- 
tion. The  President  believed  that  they  intended  to  dissolve  the  Union, 
and  sent  General  Jesup  to  Hartford  with  a  regiment;  bnt  there  was  no 
truth  in  the  reports. 

History  is  a  net-work  of  events.  Inseparably  connected  with  the  last 
great  battle  of  the  war  is  an  event  that  transpired  far  away  in  the  harbor 
of  Fayal,  one  of  the  Azores. 

The  American  privateer  General  Armstrong,  commanded  by  Captain 
Chester  Reid,  sailed  into  the  harbor  September  26,  1814.  He  wanted  to 
fill  his  casks  with  fresh-water,  and  in  the  morning  he  would  be  out  upon 
the  ocean  searching  for  British 
ships ;  but  just  at  sunset  in 
came  six  war-vessels,  with  two 
thousand  troops  on  board. 
Admiral  Lloyd  commanded 
the  squadron,  which  was  on 
its  way  to  the  West  Indies,  to 
join  Admiral  Cochrane,  who, 
with  Sir  Edward  Pakenham, 
intended  to  capture  New  Or- 
leans. The  British  command- 
er determined  to  seize  the 
American  vessel,  although  in 
a  neutral  port  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  Portugal.  It 
would  be  a  violation  of  the 
laws  of  nations.  But  he  cared 
very  little  for  international 
laws. 

The  sun  went  down.     "  Clear  the  decks  for  action  !"  said  Captain  Reid. 

"  The  British  will  not  dare  to  molest  you,'1  said  Mr.  Dabney,  who  had 
come  on  board. 

"  Perhaps  not ;  nevertheless  it  will  do  no  harm  to  be  ready  for  them." 

The  moon  threw  its  silver  light  upon  the  calm  and  peaceful  sea.  Cap- 
tain Reid  heard  the  dipping  of  oars,  and  saw  four  boats  approaching. 

"Boats  ahoy!" 

No  answer  to  the  hail. 

"  Boats  ahoy !" 


SAMUEL    CHESTER    MOID. 


224  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XV. 

No  reply. 

"  Boats  ahoy  !" 

No  sound  but  the  dipping  of  the  oars.     He  turned  to  the  crew. 

"  Every  man  to  his  place.     Stand  ready.     Fire!" 

Cannon  and  muskets  flamed.  A  wail  rent  the  air  from  dying  men, 
and  the  boats  pulled  away  to  the  ships. 

A  boat  shot  out  from  the  shore  to  the  British  fleet  with  a  letter  from 
the  governor  to  the  commander.  "  I  forbid  hostilities.  The  General 
Armstrong  is  under  the  guns  of  the  castle,  and  entitled  to  protection," 
was  the  message. 

"If  any  attempt  is  made  to  shield  the  General  Armstrong  I  will  bom- 
bard the  town,"  was  the  answer  sent  back  by  Admiral  Lloyd,  who  was 
in  a  great  rage. 

Out  from  their  houses  and  down  to  the  shore  rushed  the  people.  It 
was  midnight,  and  by  the  light  of  the  moon  they  saw  fourteen  boats,  with 
live  hundred  men  on  board,  moving  swiftly  in. 

"  Boats  ahoy  !"  shouted  Captain  Reid. 

No  answer.  Again  flashed  the  cannon  of  the  General  Armstrong, 
loaded  with  grape.  The  British  sailors  give  a  cheer,  bend  to  their  oars, 
run  along-side,  and  begin  to  climb  the  sides  of  the  Armstrong,  some  to 
fall  back  again  with  their  hands  chopped  off,  or  wounded  by  bayonet 
stabs  and  pistol  shots.  By  the  side  of  Captain  Reid  is  a  pile  of  pistols, 
all  loaded  and  cocked.  He  tires  them  two  at  a  time,  using  both  hands. 
Of  his  men  Lieutenant  Williams  is  killed,  Lieutenant  Worth  and  Lieu- 
tenant Johnson  wounded  ;  but  the  brave  men  under  him  have  no  thought 
of  yielding.  For  forty  minutes  the  fight  goes  on — the  British  not  for 
an  instant  gaining  a  foothold  on  the  deck.  All  the  boats  are  beaten  off, 
three  sent  to  the  bottom,  the  others  making  their  way  back  to  the  ships. 
The  bay  is  filled  with  floating  corpses,  the  water  crimsoned  with  the  blood 
of  more  than  three  hundred  killed  and  wounded.  Of  those  on  the  Arm- 
strong only  two  were  killed  and  seven  wounded. 

Morning  dawned.  The  Coronation,  carrying  twenty  guns,  sailed  in 
and  opened  fire;  but  the  cannon  of  the  General  Armstrong,  sighted  with 
truest  aim,  did  such  execution  that  she  was- driven  back.  Then  all  the 
tieet  flamed.  Captain  Keid,  seeing  no  chance  of  saving  the  vessel,  but 
determined  that  the  British  flag  should  never  float  from  its  mast-head, 
scuttled  the  ship,  escaping  with  his  men  to  the  shore. 

"Deliver  up  the  Americans  as  prisoners,"  was  Admiral  Lloyd's  or- 
der to  the  governor.  "  If  you  do  not  I  will  land  live  hundred  soldiers 
and  take  them." 


1815.] 


CLOSE   OF   THE   WAR   WITH   ENGLAND. 


9,9K 


"We  will  not  be  taken,"  said  Captain  Reid.  lie  took  possession  of 
a  stone  convent. 

The  British  commander,  after  the  loss  lie  had  suffered,  did  not  dare  to 
attempt  their  capture.  He  had  lost  more  than  five  hundred  men  (among 
them  some  of  his  best  officers),  and  had  received  so  much  damage  that  ten 
days  passed  before  he  could  sail.  They  were  ten  days  that  could  not  be 
recalled. 


'/^'" 


In  the  net -work  of  events  on  this  terrible  defeat  in  the  harbor  of 
Fayal  hung  another  defeat  for  the  British  army  before  New  Orleans. 

Up  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  sailed  a  fleet  of  fifty  vessels,  with  seven  thou- 
sand troops,  under  General  Pakenham.  The  officers  were  accompanied 
by  their  wives.  They  had  gay  times  on  the 
vessels,  and  intended  to  pass  a  pleasant  win- 
ter in  New  Orleans,  which  was  so  far  from 
the  settled  portions  of  the  United  States  that 
they  expected  to  meet  with  no  great  oppo- 
sition from  the  Americans.  Once  taken,  it 
could  be  held  forever. 

The  man  who,  when  a  boy  during  the 
Revolution,  refused  to  black  the  boots  of  a 
British  officer  in  South  Carolina — Andrew 
Jackson  (see  "  Boys  of  '76  ") — was  in  com- 
mand at  New  Orleans. 

When  the  British  fleet  appeared  off  the 
coast  he  had  but  a  few  undisciplined  men; 

but  troops  from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  were  coming  down  the  river  on 
flat-boats — hunters  who  could  bring  down  a  partridge  on  the  wing.  If  they 
came  before  the  British  General  Jackson  could  hold  the  city.  Time  was 
what  he  wanted.     Invaluable  to  the  Americans  those  ten  days  lost  at  Fayal. 

General  Pakenham  made  his  way  in  boats  through  Lake  Borgne,  and 
approached  New  Orleans. 

All  through  Christmas- week  there  was  skirmishing  and  some  hard 
fighting  between  the  British  and  the  troops  which  Jackson  had  stationed 
at  Chalmette's  plantation.  The  hunters  from  the  North  arrived.  General 
Jackson  threw  up  a  breastwork  below  the  city  from  the  Mississippi  to  a 
cypress  swamp.  Slaves  and  citizens  worked  with  the  spade  and  shovel. 
Teams  carted  hogsheads  of  sugar  and  bales  of  cotton,  which  were  used  to 
strengthen  the  line.  General  Jackson  had  twenty  cannon,  which  were 
placed  along  the  embankment.     Colonel  Ross  commanded  the  right  wing, 

15 


ANDREW    JACKSON'. 


226 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XV. 


General  Carroll  the  centre,  and  General  Coffee  the  left.  A  mile  and  a 
half  in  rear  of  his  first  line  General  Jackson  threw  up  a  second,  so  that 
if  driven  from  the  first  he  would  make  a  second  fight. 

Daylight  gleamed  in  the  east  January  S,  and  the  Americans,  behind 
their  earthworks,  beheld  a  long  line  of  red-coated  soldiers  advancing  in 


three  columns.  Some  of  the  British  had  bundles  of  brush  on  their  backs, 
which  they  were  bringing  to  throw  into  the  ditch  in  front  of  Jackson's 
breastworks,  that  they  might  cross  it.  Some  had  ladders,  which  they  were 
to  use  in  climbing  over  the  breastworks.       # 

Pakenham  opened  fire,  and  Jackson  replied.     On  came  the  British ; 
but  suddenly  there  was  a  sheet  of  flame  all  along  the  breastworks,  the 


1815.] 


CLOSE   OF   THE   WAR   WITH   ENGLAND. 


227 


JACKSON  S    HEAD-QTTAETEES. 

soldiers  taking  deliberate  aim,  the  men  in  the  rear  loading  the  guns  and 
handing  them  to  those  in  front — whole  platoons  go  down  in  a  twinkling. 
Among  the  killed  are  General  Pakenham,  General  Gibbs,  and  General 
Kean,  next  in  rank. 

By  the  river  Colonel  Renie,  leading  his  men,  rushes  up  to  the  parapet. 

"  Hurrah,  boys !  the  day  is  ours !"  he  shouted.     But  it  is  not  theirs. 


CHALMETTE'S   PLANTATION. 


228 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XV. 


He  goes  down  in  the  storm.  Everywhere  the  British  are  repulsed,  fleeing 
at  last,  leaving  twenty-six  hundred  killed  and  wounded  on  the  field,  while 
General  Jackson  has  lost  eight  killed  and  thirteen  wounded. 

Never  had  a  British  army  experienced  a  more  decisive  defeat.  The 
ten  days  lost  at  Fayal  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  it. 

The  war  was  over.  Peace  had  been  signed  at  Ghent  before  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans  was  fought,  but  the  news  of  the  signing  of  the  treaty  was 
not  received  in  New  York  till  February  11.  There  was  great  rejoicing. 
A  courier  on  horseback  started  for  Boston.  He  arrived  there  in  thirty- 
two  hours,  early  on  the  morning  of  the  13th,  just  as  the  people  were  eat- 


IATTLE    0?    NEW    ORLEANS.       (FROM    AN    OLD    PRINT. 


ing  breakfast.  They  rushed  into  the  streets  tossing  their  hats  into  the  air 
and  shouting  the  welcome  news.  The  church  bells  rung,  and  the  people 
came  from  all  the  surrounding  towns,  wondering  what  had  happened. 

Flags  were  flung  out  from  windows;  drums  beat;  the  military  com- 
panies paraded;  everybody  who  owned  a  horse  harnessed  it.  There  was 
a  grand  procession  of  sleighs  and  sleds;  everybody  was  invited  to  ride. 
From  the  day  of  the  news  of  Cornwallis's  surrender  there  had  been 
no  such  hand -shaking,  hurrahing,  waving  of  flags,  tossing  of  hats,  and 
singing  of  songs.  A  week  later  there  was  a  grand  procession  of  all  the 
trades  and  industries;  an  oration  at  King's  Chapel;  fire-works;  a  ball  in 
the  evening,  where  the  ladies  danced  with  British  officers  belonging  to 
the  war-vessels  which  had  sailed  into  the  harbor  and  dropped  anchor — 


■.«■:.  :"'..' :<±» 


1815.] 


CLOSE   OF   THE   WAR  WITH  ENGLAND. 


231 


REMAINS    OF   RODRIGUEZ'S    CANAL,  NEW    ORLEANS. 

dancing  and  drinking  of  healths,  forgetting  that  a  few  days  before  they 
had  been  enemies. 

"  Peace  !  and  no  longer  from  its  brazen  portals 

The  blast  of  war's  great  organ  shakes  the  skies  ; 
But,  beautiful  as  songs  of  the  immortals, 
The  holy  melodies  of  love  arise." 

The  war  began,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  in  disaster  and  hu- 
miliation ;  it  ended  in  victory.  The  commissioners  who  signed  the  treaty 
of  peace  said  nothing  about  the  imprisonment  of  seamen ;  but  from  that 
day  to  the  present  no  American  citizen  has  been  imprisoned  on  board  a 
British  war- vessel.  England  had  learned  an  unwelcome  but  useful  les- 
son— that  she  was  no  longer  supreme  ruler  of  the  seas,  and  that  beyond 
the  Atlantic  was  a  people  who  would  fight  for  a  principle.  The  people 
who  but  a  few  years  before  had  paid  tribute  to  the  Algerians  had  hum- 
bled the  pride  of  England.     The  world  rejoiced  over  the  result. 

To  the  people  of  the  United  States  came  the  dawning  of  the  idea  that 
the  country  was  not  a  confederacy,  but  a  union  of  States,  connected  by 
patriotic  blood,  bound  together  by  inseparable  ties- — a  government  of  all 
the  people. 


232 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XYI. 


CHAPTER     XVI. 


FROM  1817  TO  1832. 


'■'■•  3SK 


^ 


'    - 


JAMES  MONROE  became  President  in  1817.  The  people  began  to 
realize,  as  never  before,  that  the  United  States  were  destined  to  be- 
come a  great  and  powerful  nation.  The  people  were  still  poor;  but  in 
their  poverty  remembered  that  there  were  many  thousands  still  living  who 
had  served  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  to  show  their  gratitude 
pensioned  those  still  living  and  the  widows  of  those  who  had  died.  No 
other  nation  has  ever  shown  such  gratitude 
and  care.  On  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  at 
Greenwich,  stands  a  stately  building,  erected 
by  Sir  C.  Wren,  on  the  site  of  a  palace  of 
the  kings  of  England.  Edward  I.  and  Henry 
VIII.  lived  there.  William  III.  set  it  apart 
for  a  hospital  for  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
army  and  navy;  and  every  seaman  in  the  navy 
had  sixpence  per  month  set  aside  from  his 
wages  for  its  support.  But  neither  Great 
Britain  or  any  other  nation  ever  pensioned  as 
the  United  States  have  done  the  men  who 
had  served  in  its  armies.  Before  the  last  sol- 
dier of  the  Revolution  died  the  government  had  paid  sixty-five  million 
dollars  in  pensions. 

Away  back  in  1777,  when  the  people  were  fighting  for  Independence, 
Congress  decided  that  the  flag  of  the  country  should  consist  of  thirteen 
stars  and  thirteen  stripes — one  for  each  State.  That  was  the  flag  which 
waved  at  Saratoga  and  Yorktown.  In  1794  Congress  passed  a  law  that 
when  a  new  State  was  added  there  should  be  an  additional  stripe  and  star. 
The  stripes  had  been  narrowing,' and  with  new  States  would  become  still 
narrower.  The  States  were  increasing  in  number,  admitted  in  the  follow- 
ing order:  1812,  Louisiana;  1816,  Indiana;  1817,  Mississippi;  1818,  Illi- 
nois; 1819,  Alabama. 


JAMES    MONROE. 


1817.] 


FROM   1817   TO   1832. 


9,32 


The  man  who  had  fought  such  a  brave  battle  in  the  harbor  of  Fayal, 
on  the  deck  of  the  General  Armstrong,  Samuel  Chester  Reid,  was  the  first 
to  see  how  the  flag  could  be  kept  in  its  true  proportions  and  yet  represent 


J'KNSIONKKS 


every  State  that  might  be  added  to  the  Republic — it  was  to  have  always 
thirteen  stripes  to  represent  the  States  which  established  the  Republic,  but 
to  add  an  additional  star  on  the  admission  of  a  new  State. 


234 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVI. 


In  April,  1818,  Congress  passed  a  law  that  from  July  4  of  that  year 
such  should  be  the  flag  of  the  country.  In  Captain  Reid's  drawing-room, 
in  New  York  City,  Mrs.  Reid  and  her  lady  friends  laid  out  the  white  and 
crimson  stripes  and  the  field  of  blue,  as  in  the   old  flag,  spangled  with 


stars,  sewed  them  together,  and  sent  the  flag  to  Washington,  where,  on  the 
morning  of  July  4,  it  was  raised  above  the  Capitol  to  represent  to  the  world 
the  rising  dignity  and  the  imperishable  glory  of  the  young  Republic : 

"  Bright  flag,  at  yonder  tapering  mast, 
Fling  out  your  field  of  azure  blue ; 
Let  stars  and  stripes  be  westward  cast, 
And  point  as  freedom's  eagle  flew." 


1818.]  FROM   1817   TO   1832.  235 

Though  the  war  with  England  had  closed  there  was  great  distress. 
Not  much  money  had  been  coined  at  the  Mint  in  Philadelphia.  The  sil- 
ver in  circulation  was  of  Spanish  or  English  coinage.  Congress  had  estab- 
lished a  decimal  currency  of  dollars,  cents,  and  mills;  so,  although  the 
country  was  independent  of  Great  Britain,  and  a  nation  politically,  it  was 
not  independent  in  money. 

People  still  kept  their  accounts  in  shillings  and  pence.  There  was 
much  confusion  in  money-matters,  for  there  were  several  hinds  of  shil- 
lings. An  English  shilling  was  twenty-five  cents;  a  New  England  shil- 
ling, sixteen  and  two-third  cents;  a  York  shilling,  twelve  and  a  half  cents. 
In  New  England  twelve  and  a  half  cents  was  ninepence;  in  New  York,  a 
shilling;  in  Ohio,  a  "bit."  In  New  England  six  and  a  quarter  cents  was 
fourpence  half -penny;  in  New  York,  sixpence ;  in  New  Orleans,  a  "  pica- 
yune." In  New  England  six  shillings  made  a  dollar ;  in  New  York  it 
required  eight.  People  were  obliged  to  trade  by  barter  for  want  of 
money.  Banks  were  chartered  which  issued  bills — promises  to  pay — which 
were  valuable  only  in  proportion  to  the  ability  of  the  banks  to  pay  a  dollar 
in  silver  for  its  notes.  The  bank-bills  served  for  money  so  Jong  as  the 
people  had  confidence  that  the  banks  were  able  to  pay ;  but  if  they 
mistrusted  their  ability  and  demanded  silver  there  was  trouble.  Very 
few  of  the  banks  in  the  country  towns  could  pay.  Many  failed.  The 
directors  of  one  bank  were  very  shrewd.  They  sent  to  Boston  and  ob- 
tained several  kegsful  of  fourpence-half-penny  pieces,  and  it  took  the  cash- 
ier so  long  to  count  one  hundred  or  one  thousand  dollars  in  such  small 
pieces  that  the  men  who  presented  the  bills  usually  got  tired  of  waiting. 
The  directors  never  let  the  kegs  get  empty,  and  so  prevented  a  run,  and 
saved  the  bank  from  failure.  When  a  bank  failed  the  people  were  the 
sufferers. 

When  Monroe  became  President  there  were  four  hundred  and  forty- 
six  banks  in  the  country,  with  a  capital  of  ninety  million  dollars.  Most 
of  them  failed  or  were  obliged  to  wind  up  their  affairs.  The  charter  of 
the  United  States  Bank,  which  Hamilton  planned  soon  after  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  expired  in  1811.  During  the  war  with  England 
there  was  no  United  States  Bank,  and  the  banks  chartered  by  the  several 
States  were  prosperous;  but  in  1S16  a  new  charter  was  granted,  with 
a  capital  of  thirty-five  million  dollars.  The  United  States  held  seven 
millions  of  the  stock.  The  Government  kept  all  its  spare  money  in  the 
bank,  which  made  it  so  powerful  that  it  could  control  the  business  of  the 
country. 

With  nearly  all  the  other  banks  failing,  and  little  money  to  be  had, 


236  'BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XVI. 

there  was  a  stagnation  of  trade.  The  farmer  could  not  sell  what  he 
raised;  carpenters,  joiners,  and  bricklayers  could  not  find  work.  There 
was  no  price  for  property;  few  sales  except  by  the  sheriff;  few  purchasers 
except  the  creditors  who  bid  off  farms  and  goods,  at  the  sheriff's  auction, 
at  their  own  price. 

Amid  the  distress  new  forces  were  coming  into  play  to  revolutionize 
society.  The  revolution  began  in  England  when  James  Hargreaves  and 
Richard  Arkwright  set  mill-wheels  and  steam-engines  to  work  to  spin  cot- 
ton and  wool.  In  1789,  the  year  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
was  adopted,  Samuel  Slater  came  from  England  to  the  United  States  to 
become  an  American  citizen.  lie  had  seen  Arkwright's  machines  for 
spinning.  He  had  few  tools ;  but,  after  overcoming  many  difficulties,  he 
made  four  spinning-frames,  and  set  them  whirling  by  a  water-wheel  in  an 
old  fulling-mill  in  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island,  in  1790 — starting  the  first  cot- 
ton manufactory  in  the  United  States.  Eli  Whitney  invented,  in  1793,  the 
cotton-gin.  In  the  year  1800  Arthur  Seholfield,  who  had  been  making 
spinning  and  carding  machines  in  England,  decided  to  become  an  Ameri- 
can citizen.  The  British  Government  had  passed  a  stringent  law  pro- 
hibiting any  one  from  sending  any  manufacturing  machinery  out  of  that 
country,  as  England  wanted  to  manufacture  cotton  and  woollen  cloth  for 
all  the  world.  The  British  custom-house  officers  would  not  let  him  bring 
his  own  tools  to  this  country,  for  fear  that  he  would  construct  carding  and 
spinning  machines  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  He  came  without  them. 
lie  had  no  drawings  of  machines,  but  remembered  how  they  were  con- 
structed ;  and,  with  such  tools  as  he  could  find  in  a  blacksmith's  shop,  set 
himself  to  work  at  Fittsfield,  Mass.  On  November  2,  1801,  he  issued  this 
advertisement : 

"Arthur  Seholfield  respectfully  informs  the  inhabitants  of  Pittsfield  and  the  neigh- 
boring towns,  that  he  has  a  carding-machine  where  they  may  have  their  wool  carded 
into  rolls  for  twelve  and  a  half  cents  per  pound;  mixed,  fifteen  cents  per  pound.  If 
they  find  grease  and  pick  the  grease  in,  it  will  be  ten  cents  per  pound." 

It  was  the  first  machine  in  the  United  States  used  for  carding  wool.  He 
sent  the  woollen  "  rolls  "  out  to  the  farm-houses,  where  they  were  spun  and 
woven  into  cloth  by  women  and  girls.  When  he  had  fulled  and  dressed 
his  "broadcloth"  he  tried  to  sell  it  to  Isaiah  Bissel,  who  kept  store  in  Pitts- 
iield ;  but  neither  he  nor  any  other  of  the  store-keepers  would  purchase  it. 

"Nobody  will  buy  broadcloth  manufactured  here,"  they  said. 

Mr.  Seholfield  took  it  to  New  York,  but  was  obliged  to  sell  it  very  cheap. 
Weeks  went  by;  Mr.  Bissel,  meanwhile,  had  been  there  to  purchase  goods. 


1818.] 


FROM   1S17   TO   1832. 


287 


"  Step  in  and  see  my 
broadcloths,"  he  said  to 'Ar- 
thur Sclioltield. 

Mr.  Sclioltield  examined 
them.  "  I  have  seen  those 
broadcloths  before." 

"  Seen  them  before ! 
Where  ?" 

"I made  them; 
there  is  my  pri- 
vate mark." 

Mr.  Bissel  was 
astonished  to  learn  ;,-"; 


msm 


THE    STAGE 


that  he  had  purchased  as  British  broadcloth  what  had  been  manufactured 
within  a  few  rods  of  his  store,  and  which  he  had  once  refused  to  purchase. 
In  1S08  Mr.  Scholfield  manufactured  thirteen  yards  of  broadcloth 
from  the  wool  of  Merino  sheep,  and  presented  it  to  President  Madison, 
who  had  it  made  into  a  suit  of  clothes,  which  he  wore  when  he  was  in- 
augurated President  of  the  United  States. 


238 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVI. 


Through  the  years  people  had  been  riding  horseback — women  on  side- 
saddles or  on  pillions,  carrying  their  children  in  their  arms.  Before  the 
Revolution  wagons  were  in  use  in  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia, 
but  very  few  in  the  country.  They  were  rudely  constructed,  and  their 
pounding  and  rattling  created  a  racket  which  was  called  "homespun  thun- 
der."    Stages  came  into  use  at  the  beginning  of  the  century — gayly-painted 


OLD-TIME    CHAISE. 


coaches,  drawn  by  four  or  six  horses,  carrying  nine  passengers  inside,  two 
on  the  seat  with  the  driver,  and  three  on  the  top,  with  a  pile  of  trunks  on 
the  rack  behind;  changing  horses  at  the  country  towns,  making  seventy 
miles  a  day.  Chaises  came  into  use,  but  only  well-to-do  people  could 
afford  to  use  them. 

The  Dutch  farmers  who  lived  along  the  Mohawk  River,  in  New  York, 
could  go  in  boats  from  Schenectady  up  to  Little  Falls ;  but  there  the  river 
foamed  over  a  rocky  ledge,  breaking  navigation.  General  Philip  Schuy- 
ler, who  had  fought  bravely  during  the  Revolution,  conceived  the  idea  of 
digging  a  canal  around  the  falls,  in  which  there  would  be  several  locks. 
He  invited  the  farmers  to  meet  him  at  a  tavern,  near  Little  Falls,  to  see 
what  could  be  done.  The  Dutchmen  liked  him,  and  were  ready  to  believe 
all  he  had  to  say;  but  they  could  not  understand  how  he  could  get  a  boat 
over  the  falls. 

"  I  will  do  it  with  locks." 

"  Vy,  sheneral,  you  no  make  ze  vater  run  uphill !" 

Notwithstanding  his  explanation  they  shook  their  heads.  A  thought 
came  to  him.  He  went  into  the  garden,  dug  a  little  canal,  made  dams 
across  it,  poured  in  a  pailful  of  water,  and  locked  a  chip  from  the  lower 
end  up  past  the  dams. 


1818.] 


FROM   1817   TO   1832. 


239 


The  Dutchmen  saw  how  it  was  done,  and  were  delighted. 

"  Veil,  veil,  sheneral,  now  ve  understand,  and  ve  vill  go  mit  you  for  ze 
canal,"  they  said. 

The  canal  around  the  falls  was  built  in  1796,  and  was  of  great  benefit 
to  the  United  States  during  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  enabling  boats 
with  supplies  for  the  troops  to  go  from  Schenectady  to  Lake  Oneida. 

It  is  not  known  who  first  conceived  the  idea  of  a  canal  from  Hudson 


DE    WITT   CLINTON. 


River  to  Lake  Erie,  but  Gouvemeur  Morris  and  James  Geddis  were  talk- 
ing about  it  in  1810.  Mr.  Geddis  lived  in  Onondaga,  and  was  so  full  of 
the  scheme  that  he  made  surveys  at  his  own  expense.  A  commission  was 
appointed  by  the  governor  to  explore  a  route;  but  the  war  began,  and  they 
had  other  things  to  think  of. 

De  Witt  Clinton  was  mayor  of  New  York.  He  saw  emigrants  pushing 
Westward — a  constant  stream  of  wagons  through  the  Mohawk  Valley  from 
New  England — to  settle  Western  New  York  and  Ohio.  He  saw  that  if  a 
canal  were  constructed  from  Hudson  River  to  Lake  Erie  it  would  bring  a 
irreat  tide  of  commerce  to  New  York,  and  be  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the 


240  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XVI. 

country.  A  meeting  was  held  in  October,  1815,  in  the  City  Hall,  to  see 
what  could  be  done  about  it. 

"  The  whole  line  of  the  canal,"  said  the  mayor, "  will  exhibit  boats  laden 
with  flour,  pork,  beef,  pot  and  pearl  ashes,  flaxseed,  wheat,  corn,  barley, 
hemp,  wool,  flax,  iron,  lead,  copper,  salt,  gypsum,  coal,  tar,  fur,  peltry,  gin- 
seng, beeswax,  cheese,  butter,  lard,  stoves,  lumber,  and  merchandise  from 
all  parts  of  the  world.  ...  It  remains  for  a  free  State  to  create  a  new 
era  in  history,  and  to  erect  a  work  more  stupendous,  more  magnificent, 
and  mure  beneficent  than  lias  hitherto  been  achieved  by  the  human 
race." 

"Don't  thee  think  Friend  Clinton  has  a  bee  in  his  bonnet?"  asked  a 
Quaker. 

The  far-seeing  man  was  laughed  at  by  some  of  his  friends,  but  the 
people  believed  in  him,  and  elected  him  governor.  July  4,  1817,  came, 
and  as  the  sun  was  rising  De  Witt  Clinton  and  the  commission  appointed 
to  construct  the  canal  stood  in  a  field  at  Rome. 

"By  this  great  highway,"  said  Samuel  Young,  "which  we  are  about 
to  construct,  unborn  millions  will  transport  their  surplus  products  to  the 
Atlantic,  and  hold  profitable  intercourse  with  the  maritime  nations  of  the 
earth." 

Judge  Richardson  threw  up  a  shovelful  of  earth,  and  the  work  was 
begun.  Eight  years  went  by.  John  Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  was 
President.  De  Witt  Clinton  the  while  had  been  pushing  his  great  enter- 
prise.    People  laughed  at  him. 

"He  is  digging  a  big  ditch,  and  will  bankrupt  the  State,"  they  said; 
but  the  work  went  on  all  the  same. 

On  October  26, 1825,  at  ten  o' clock  in  the  morning,  a  cannon  was  fired 
at  Buffalo — a  signal  that  the  canal  was  completed,  and  that  the  water  had 
been  let  into  it.  Cannon  had  been  stationed  along  the  canal  and  the  Hud- 
son River  to  Xew  York  City.  One  by  one  they  took  up  the  signal,  trans- 
mitting the  joyful  news  in  one  hour  and  thirty  minutes. 

The  canal-boat  Seneca  Chief]  drawn  by  four  gray  horses  gayly  capari- 
soned, with  Governor  Clinton  and  invited  guests  on  board,  followed  by 
other  boats,  started  from  Buffalo  eastward.  One  of  the  boats  was  S^oah's 
Ark,  with  two  eagles,  a  bear,  two  deer,  a  great  variety  of  birds,  and  two 
Indian  boys  on  board,  representing  the  contribution  of  the  great  unsettled 
AVest  to  the  civilized  East.  Flags  floated  above  the  boats.  In  every  town 
were  celebrations,  speeches,  music,  firing  of  cannon,  and  feasting.  At 
sunrise,  November  4,  all  the  church-bells  of  New  York  were  ringing,  can- 
non thundering,  flags  flying,  while  a  multitude  of  people  from  New  Eng- 


1323.] 


FROM   1817   TO   1832. 


>41 


land,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Southern  New  York  thronged  the 
streets  and  crowded  the  wharves,  to  welcome  the  fleet  of  twenty-nine 
steamboats   escorting  the  Seneca   Chief  and  JSToah's  Ark,  and  the  other 


LOCKS    AT    LOCKPORT. 


boats  which  had  arrived  from  Buffalo.  The  harbor  swarmed  with  ships 
and  small  craft.  Every  vessel  displayed  flags  from  bowsprit  to  top-mast. 
The  British  war-ships  ran  out  their  cannon  and  flred  salutes.  The  sailors 
climbed  the  rigging,  stood  upon  the  yards,  and  waved  their  caps.  Their 
bands  played  "God  Save  the  King,"  and  the  American  bands  gave  "Yan- 
kee Doodle."  Governor  Clinton,  standing  on  the  deck  of  the  Seneca  Chief, 
lifted  a  gilded  keg  filled  with  water  from  Lake  Erie  and  poured  it  into 
the  harbor. 

1G 


243 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap  XVI. 


"  May  the  God  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  he  said,  "  smile  most 
propitiously  on  this  work,  and  render  it  subservient  to  the  best  interests  of 
the  human  race." 


ENTRANCE  TO  THE  ERIE  CANAL  AT  TROT. 


Other  canals  were  built   in  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  New 

York, Virginia,  and  Maryland;  but  the  Erie  Canal,  far  beyond  all  others, 
was  of  benefit  to  the  country  and  to  the  world. 

From  the  time  when  Cabez  de  Yaca  landed  in  Florida,  in  152S  (see 
';01d  Times  in  the  Colonies,"  p.  25),  that  portion  of  the  country  had  been 
held  by  Spain.  The  Seminole  Indians,  who  built  their  palmetto  huts 
in  the  everglades,  began  to  murder  settlers  in  Georgia.  The  Creeks  in 
Alabama  joined  them,  but  General  Jackson  quickly  put  an  end  to  their 
depredations.  lie  marched  with  one  thousand  men  and  destroyed  their 
corn  and  cattle.  He  learned  that  the  Spaniards  in  Florida  had  stirred  up 
the  Indians,  and  upon  his  own  responsibility  invaded  Florida,  going  to  St. 
Mark's,  where  lie  found  two  Englishmen,  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  who 
had  been  urging  the  Indians  to  murder  the  Americans.  They  were  tried 
by  court-martial,  found  guilty,  and  hung.  He  discovered  that  the  Spanish 
governor  at  Pensacola  was  helping  the  Indians,  and  marched  to  that  town. 


1819.] 


FROM    1817   TO    1832. 


243 


The  governor  fled  to  Fort  Barancas,  but  when  he  saw  General  Jackson 
getting  ready  to  attack  it  surrendered.  The  Spanish  minister  at  Wash- 
ington protested  against  the  invasion,  but  the  President  and  the  country 
approved  of  what  he  had  done.  Spain  cared  little  for  Florida,  and  offered 
to  sell  it  for  $5,000,000.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  in  1819  it  came 
into  possession  of  the  United  States. 

Missouri  and  Maine  were  ready  to  become  States.  Missouri  had  been 
settled  by  the  French  in  1755.  The  oldest  town  was  St.  Genevieve.  It 
was  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  in  the  Territory  of  Louisiana  (purchased 
from  France).  People  from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  had  gone  there  with 
their  slaves.  Should  it  be  a  free  or  slave  State?  That  provision  in  the 
Constitution  which  recognized  slaves  as  property  entitled  to  representation 
had  become  a  political  power.  The  people  of  the  Southern  States  wished 
it  to  come  in  as  a  slave  State,  that  they  might  keep  even  with  the  Northern 
States  in  Congress.  Should  the  people  of  Missouri  be  prohibited  from 
holding  slaves?  There  was  angry  discussion  in  Congress — threatenings  to 
dissolve  the  Union  on  the  part  of  Southern  members  if  slavery  was  to  bc- 
prohibited.  It  was  the  first 
conflict  between  slavery  and 
freedom  under  the  Constitu- 
tion. Slavery  won.  The  State 
was  admitted,  with  no  restric- 
tion against  holding  slaves,  but 
it  was  agreed  that  in  the  ter- 
ritory north  of  latitude  thirty- 
six  degrees  thirty  minutes,  the 
southern  boundary  of  Missouri, 
slavery  should  be  forever  pro- 
hibited. It  was  called  a  com- 
promise. 

Among  the  members  from 
the  Southern  States  who  took 
part  in  the  discussion  was  John 
Randolph,  of  Virginia,  who  was 
a  descendant  of  Pocahontas. 
lie    was    sometimes    eloquent, 

but  usually  sarcastic.  Another  member  was  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky, 
who  was  born  in  Virginia,  in  1777,  and  went  to  school  in  a  log  school- 
house,  lie  drove  a  team  of  mules  when  he  was  a  boy,  drawing  corn  to 
mill;  and  in  after  life,  when  he  became  a  great  statesman,  he  was  called 


JOHN    RANDOLPH. 


244 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVI. 


HENRY    CLAY. 


the  "mill -boy  of  the  slashes."  When  he  was  very  young,  he  went  to 
Lexington,  Kentucky,  became  a  lawyer,  and  began  his  great  career.  lie 
was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  in  1S0S,  and  had 
a  great  deal  to  do  with  building 
the  nation.  He  lived  at  Lexing- 
ton, and  gave  the  name  of  "Ash- 
land" to  his  home. 

The  nation  was  still  teaching 
by  example.  Republicanism  in 
France  had  gone  out  in  anarchy. 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  had  swept 
Europe  with  the  armies  of  France, 
but  the  Empire  which  he  estab- 
lished had  gone  down.  The 
kings  of  Europe  had  put  down 
all  attempts  of  the  people  to  se- 
cure their  rights;  but  the  coun- 
tries of  South  America  and  Mex- 
ico, following  the  example  of  the 
United  States,  were  determined  to  become  free  and  independent. 

The  people  of  La  Plata  were  tired  of  being  robbed  by  the  governor 
sent  out  by  Spain.  They  started  an  insurrection  in  1811.  The  people  of 
Chili,  Peru,  Venezuela,  and  all  the   other  Spanish   provinces  caught  the 

spirit  of  liberty,  and  one  by 
one  declared  their  indepen- 
dence. Spain  could  not  recon- 
quer them.  There  was  much 
fighting,  but  the  Spanish  were 
defeated.  Ought  not  the 
United  States  to  recognize  the 
new  republics?  Henry  Clay 
became  an  earnest  advocate  in 
Congress  for  such  recognition, 
and  made  eloquent  speeches. 
The  patriots  in  South  America 
translated  his  speeches  and  cir- 
culated them,  erected  monu- 
ments to  his  honor,  and  celebrated  his  name  in  patriotic  songs.  In  1S22 
the  United  States  recognized  them  as  independent  nations. 


1822.] 


FROM   1817   TO   1832. 


245 


This  is  what  President  Monroe  said  in  his  message  to  Congress: 

"  We  should  consider  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  European  powers  to 
extend  their  system  to  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and 
safety,  .  .  .  and  should  regard  it  as  a  manifestation  of  unfriendly  disposi- 
tion towards  the  United  States." 

This  has  become  known  in  history  as  the  "Monroe  doctrine."  It  was 
a  notice  to  Europe  and  to  the  world  that  the  people  of  the  western  hemi- 
sphere—  of  North  and  South  America  —  were  to  choose  for  themselves 
what  form  of  government  they  would  have;  and  that  any  interference  on 
the  part  of  any  European  country  would  be  regarded  as  a  menace  to  the 
United  States;  that  this  western  world  was  to  be  thenceforth  forever  set 
apart  for  a  trial  of  the  form  of  government  which  William  Brewster, 
William  Bradford,  and  the  men  of  the  Mayflower  inaugurated,  which  the 
people  of  the  United  States 
had  developed  and  adopted 
— a  government  of  the  peo- 
ple based  on  equal  rights. 

In  1S24  Lafayette,  who 
had  aided  the  Americans 
in  achieving  their  Inde- 
pendence, arrived  in  New 
York.  He  had  command- 
ed the  armies  of  France 
at  the  beginning  of  the 
French  Revolution.  When 
the  Jacobins  came  into 
power  he  fled  to  Holland, 
where  the  Austrian  sol- 
diers seized  him.  He  had 
been  kept  in  prison  five 
years.  He  crossed'  the 
ocean  to  see  once  more 
the  land  for  which  he  de- 
voted his  life  and  fortune 
— the  guest  of  the  nation.  lie  arrived  in  New  York  August  15.  All  the 
city  gathered  to  welcome  him  ;  cannon  thundered,  bells  rung,  flags  waved  ; 
and  when  he  made  his  appearance  upon  the  balcony  of  the  City  Hall  the 
great  multitude  rent  the  air  with  their  hurrahs.  He  had  not  expected  such 
a  demonstration,  and  the  tears  rolled  down  his  cheeks  as  he  beheld  around 
him  men  who  had  fought  by  his  side  in  the  great  struggle  for  liberty. 


LAFAYETTK. 


24(3 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVI. 


He  travelled  to  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Richmond.  Congress 
was  in  session,  and  voted  him  $200,000  in  money  and  a  township  of  land. 
He  went  to  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and 

Louisiana.  From  New  Orleans  he 
went  np  the  Mississippi  to  St.  Louis; 
thence  to  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Pennsyl- 
vania; to  New  York,  then  on  to  Bos- 
ton, Portsmouth,  Portland,  Concord, 
Burlington,  and  back  to  New  York. 

It  was  a  great  day  at  Bunker 
Hill,  June  17,  1S25,  when  the  corner- 
stone of  the  monument  was  laid — 
the  hill  covered  with  people  —  all 
the  military  companies  in  their 
showy  uniforms  present;  the  ves- 
sels in  the  harbor  thundering  a 
salute ;  Daniel  Webster  delivering 
the  oration,  forty  soldiers  who  had 
stood  in  the  redoubt  and  behind  the 
rail  fence,  and  Lafayette,  around 
him. 

During  the  year  a  new  frigate 
was  built.  It  was  named  the  JBran- 
dywine,  and  was  employed  to  bear  Lafayette  to  France.  President  John 
Quincy  Adams  bade  him  an  affectionate  farewell.  Very  tender  and  touch- 
ing was  Lafayette's  reply. 

"  God  bless  you,  sir,"  he  said,  "  and  all 
who  surround  us!  God  bless  the  American 
people,  each  of  their  States,  and  the  Federal 
Government !  Accept  this  patriotic  farewell 
of  an  overflowing  heart.  Such  will  be  its 
last  throb  when  it  ceases  to  beat." 


BUNKER    HILL    MONUMENT. 


Manufacturing  by  machinery  had  begun 
in  the  United  States.  England  had  been 
using  machinery  for  a  third  of  a  century, 
and  was  becoming  rich  by  manufacturing 
goods  for  the  people  of  other  countries. 

The  question  of  a  tax  or  tariff  on  for- 
eign goods  agitated  the  country.     The  word  tariff  had  its  origin  on  the 


JOHN    Ql'INCV    ADAMS. 


1817.]  FROM   1817   TO   1832.  217 

other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  From  the  point  Tarifa,  near  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar,  pirate  vessels  used  to  dart  out  upon  ships  that  were  sailing 
through  the  Straits  and  compel  the  captains  to  pay  them  money  for  the 
privilege  of  going  through.  The  pirates  assumed  to  own  the  Straits ; 
and  the  captains,  rather  than  have  a  fight,  paid  them  for  the  priv- 
ilege of  going  on  their  way.  In  the  course  of  years  the  word  came  to 
mean  a  tax  or  duty  imposed  by  government  on  articles  imported  or  ex- 
ported. 

Henry  Clay  believed  that  it  would  be  a  good  way  to  build  up  manufac- 
tures in  the  United  States  to  tax  cotton  and  woollen  cloth  and  a  great  vari- 
ety of  goods  manufactured  in  England  and  other  countries,  and  which  the 
people  of  the  United  States  were  beginning  to  manufacture.  Under  his 
influence,  largely,  the  "American  system,"  as  it  was  called,  was  inaugu- 
rated. In  1816  a  tariff,  or  list  of  taxes,  on  goods  manufactured  in  other 
countries  was  established.  It  was  done  to  encourage  and  protect  the  man- 
ufacturers of  the  United  States.  The  men  who  were  beginning  to  manu- 
facture had  little  money,  while  the  manufacturers  of  Great  Britain  were 
rich.  Money  was  dear  in  Ameriica.  Men  who  had  to  borrow  paid  ten, 
fifteen,  or  twenty  per  cent,  for  it;  in  Great  Britain  the  rates  were  not 
half  so  great.  Labor  was  dear  in  the  United  States,  but  cheap  in  Eng- 
land. America  was  new.  The  people  were  obliged  to  build  roads,  bridges 
school-houses,  and  churches.  England  had  the  advantage,  and  could  man- 
ufacture clothes  cheaper  than  they  could  be  made  in  the  United  States. 
Hence  the  tariff. 

There  were  no  manufactories  in  the  Southern  States,  but  they  were 
springing  up  all  over  New  England.  The  tariff  made  goods  dear  to  the 
planters  of  South  Carolina,  who  wished  to  repeal  it.  The  people  of 
New  England  were  thriving.  Towns  were  springing  up,  water-wheels 
were  whirling,  spindles  humming,  shuttles  flying;  everywhere  in  the 
Northern  States  there  were  signs  of  thrift  and  industry.  In  1S2S  Con- 
gress passed  a  still  stronger  tariff,  which  gave  great  offence  to  South  Caro- 
lina. In  1S29  General  Jackson  became  President.  When  he  was  a  boy 
he  showed  what  stuff  he  was  made  of  by  refusing  to  black  the  boots  of 
a  British  officer  (see  "Boys  of  '70").  During  the  second  war  with  Great 
Britain  and  in  the  wars  against  the  Indians  he  had  shown  the  country 
how  energetic  he  could  be.  The  time  had  come  when  the  nation  needed 
a  fearless  man  to  execute  the  laws. 

The  people  of  South  Carolina  and  Virginia  remembered  that  Thomas 
Jefferson  had  written  in  1798,  resolutions  which  were  passed  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  Kentucky,  that  the   Union   was  only  a   compact  between   the 


24S 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVI. 


States,  and  that  eacli  State  had  a  right  to  judge  of  the  validity  of  laws 

passed  by  Congress. 

South   Carolina,  under  the  lead  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  determined  to 

nullify  or  make  void  the  tar- 
iff so  far  as  that  State  was 
concerned,  and  passed  a  law 
which  declared  the  acts  of 
Congress  of  no  account,  and 
forbade  the  custom-house  offi- 
cers at  Charleston  collecting 
any  revenue.  The  Governor 
ordered  the  troops  of  the  State 
to  be  ready  to  support  the 
law. 

In  1832  came  a  great  de- 
bate in  the  United  States  be- 
tween Senator  ITayne  of  South 
Carolina  and  Daniel  Webster 
on  nullification.  South  Caro- 
lina had  started  upon  a  course 
which  would  bring  civil  war — 
the  overturning  of  the  Consti- 
eloquent  were  the  words  of  Mr. 


JOHN    C.  CALHOUN. 


tution,  breaking  up  of  the  nation 
Webster : 

"  While  the  Union  lasts  we  have 
high,  exciting,  gratifying  prospects 
spread  out  before  us,  for  us  and  our 
children.  Beyond  that  I  seek  not  to 
penetrate  the  veil.  God  grant  that, 
in  my  clay  at  least,  that  curtain  may 
not  rise !  God  grant  that  on  my 
vision  never  may  be  opened  what  lies 
behind !  When  my  eyes  shall  be 
turned  to  behold  for  the  last  time  the 
sun  in  heaven,  may  I  not  see  him 
shining  on  the  broken  and  dishonored 
fragments  of  a  once  glorious  Union  ; 
on  States  dissevered,  discordant,  bel- 
ligerent; on  a  land  rent  with  civil 
feuds,  or  drenched,  it  may  be,  in  fra- 


Ver 


DANIEL    WEBSTER. 


1829.] 


FROM   1817   TO   1832. 


240 


ternal  blood!  Let  their  last  feeble  and  lingering  glance  rather  behold  the 
gorgeous  ensign  of  the  Republic,  now  known  and  honored  throughout  the 
earth,  still  full  high  advanced,  its  arms  and  trophies  streaming  in  their 
original  lustre — not  a  stripe  erased  or  polluted,  nor  a  single  star  obscured, 
bearing  for  its  motto  no  such  miserable  interrogatory  as  '  What  is  all  this 
worth  V  nor  those  other  words  of  delusion  and  fully,  '  Liberty  first,  and 
Union  afterward  ;'  but  everywhere,  spread  all  over  in  characters  of  living 
light,  blazing  on  all  its  ample  folds,  as  they  float  over  the  sea  and  over 
the  land,  and  in  every  wind  under  the  whole  heavens,  that  other  senti- 
ment, dear  to  ev- 
ery true  Ameri- 
ican  heart — Lib- 
erty and  Union, 
now  and  forever, 
one  and  insepa- 
rable !" 

The  Gov- 
ernor of  South 
Carolina  issued 
a  proclamation. 
The    troops    of 

Vy,V^:ir^i'-'rv"'  :  tne  State  were 
to  be  ready  to 
march  at  a  moment's  notice.  The 
proclamation  reached  Washington. 
President  Jackson  read  it  while 
sitting  in  his  easy-chair  and  smok- 
ing his  long -stemmed  pipe.  lie 
finished  reading,  dashed  his  pipe 
into  the  fireplace,  and  smashed  it 
to  atoms.     He  lifted  his  right  hand  ;  his  eyes  flashed. 

"The  Union!  It  must  and  shall  he  preserved!  By  the  Eternal! 
Send  for  General  Scott  /" 

President  Jackson  little  knew  how  his  words  would  ring  through  the 
country,  firing  the  hearts  of  the  people— how  men  who  had  opposed  him 
would  become  his  supporters  and  friends— how,  thirty  years  later,  it  would 
be  like  a  fire-bell  at  night  to  stir  the  souls  of  men. 

United  States  troops  were  sent  to  Fort  Moultrie  and  Castle  Pinckney. 
Commander  Elliott  sailed  with  a  fleet,  and  the  people  of  Charleston  saw 
the  cannon  of  ships  and  forts  pointed  toward  the  town.     Every  morning 


■wm 

WEBSTEll'S    PLACE,  MARSHFIELD. 


250 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVI. 


the)7  beheld  the  Stars  and  Stripes  flung  out  from  the  top-masts,  and  heard 
the  bands  playing  "Hail,  Columbia!"  This  first  attempt  at  nullification 
was  the  outgrowth  of  the  thistle-seed  sown  in  the  resolutions  of  1798.  A 
State  had  risen  against  the  nation,  but  the  nation,  in  behalf  of  constitutional 
liberty,  asserted  its  right  and  its  might  to  legislate  fur  all  the  people. 

President  Jackson  became  very  popular.  The  people  called  him  "  Old 
Hickory,"  because  he  was  so  unyielding,  like  the  hickory-tree.  Whenever 
he  travelled,  people  crowded  to  see  him,  throwing  up  their  hats,  shouting — 
"  hurrah  !"  the  great  men  of  the  towns  presenting  addresses  of  welcome. 


ADDRESS    TO    "  OLD    HICKORY." 


1787-1840.]  RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL   FORCES.  251 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL  FORCES. 

f  T^O  establish  an  enduring  State,  to  build  a  nation  great  and  strong,  there 
-*-  must  be  not  only  the  achievement  of  independence,  the  clearing  away 
of  the  forest,  laying  out  of  farms,  building  of  ships,  growth  of  towns, 
increase  of  population,  but  there  must  be  also  the  development  of  ideas, 
the  exercise  of  moral  and  religious  forces.  Men  do  not  think  alike ;  well 
for  the  world  that  they  do  not.     Otherwise  there  would  be  no  progress. 

The  establishment  of  common  schools  in  New  England,  the  education 
of  the  people,  promoted  free  thought.  Men  began  to  think  for  themselves 
in  matters  of  religion.  When  the  Constitution  was  adopted  the  men  who 
framed  it  saw  that  it  was  the  right  of  every  man  to  believe  what  he  pleased 
in  religion  ;  that  he  had  the  right  to  be  protected  in  his  belief  and  form 
of  worship.  In  New  England,  during  the  Colonial  period,  the  meeting- 
houses were  built  by  the  towns,  and  all  the  people  were  taxed  to  support 
the  ministers.  In  Virginia  the  ministers  received  their  pay  in  tobacco. 
Congress  left  each  State  to  settle  questions  in  regard  to  ministers,  and 
churches.  One  by  one  the  States,  from  1800  to  1S20,  repealed  the  laws 
which  compelled  people  to  support  ministers.  It  was  left  for  each  church 
to  support  itself,  pay  its  own  minister,  and  regulate  its  own  affairs.  Men 
gladly  do  voluntarily  what  they  will  not  do  under  compulsion.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  world's  history.  The  people  of  other  lands 
with  astonishment  beheld  the  building  of  a  nation  without  a  bishop  in  any 
way  connected  with  government,  voluntarily  paying  their  ministers,  and 
erecting  their  churches.  The  result  was  a  great  quickening  of  religious 
zeal.  Ministers  had  greater  liberty,  preached  with  more  fervor.  From 
1810  to  1830  was  a  period  of  remarkable  revivals  of  religion — resulting 
in  the  formation  of  charitable  and  benevolent  societies,  and  missionary 
organizations. 

When  King  James  determined  to  have  only  one  form  of  worship  in 
England,  and  that  the  Episcopal,  William  Bradford,  William  Brewster, 
and  the  men  and  women  of  Scrooby,  fled  to  Holland,  and  from  Holland 


252  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XVII. 

to  America,  to  worship  God  in  their  own  way.  They  would  not  be  Epis- 
copalians. When  they  landed  at  Plymouth  they  had  no  minister,  but 
the  members  of  the  Church  came  together  in  a  congregation  and  chose 
William  Brewster.  Xo  bishop  consecrated  him  by  the  laying  on  of 
hands,  but  he  preached  all  the  same;  and,  so  far  as  William  Bradford, 
Edward  Winslow,  and  their  fellow- pilgrims  could  see,  his  ministrations 
were  just  as  acceptable  to  themselves  and  to  God  as  if  he  had  been 
ordained  by  Archbishop  Land. 

The  Pilgrims  believed  that  the  members  of  each  individual  Church 
should  rule  themselves.  They  were  Cungregationalists.  The  Puritans 
who  settled  at  Boston  were  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  but 
refused  to  conform  to  the  rules  laid  down  by  the  archbishops  and  bishops, 
and  were  called  Nun-conformists.  When  they  made  America  their  home, 
and  saw  that  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  were  ruling  themselves  in  every- 
thing, they  too  became  Congregational ists. 

Roger  Williams,  who  came  to  Massachusetts  in  1630,  was  a  minister  of 
the  Church  of  England,  but  became  a  Congregationalist.  lie  had  been 
sprinkled  when  he  was  an  infant,  but  thought  that  he  had  not  been  prop- 
erly baptized.  As  there  was  no  minister  to  immerse  him,  it  was  done  by 
Ezekiel  Holliman,  a  member  of  the  Church  who  also  had  been  sprinkled. 
When  Mr.  Williams  had  been  immersed  he  in  turn  immersed  Mr.  Holli- 
man and  ten  others,  and  established  the  first  Bcqytist  Church  in  America. 
Although  Baptists,  they  were  Congregationalists  in  that  they  ruled  them- 
selves, and  have  become  a  great  and  powerful  body  of  Christians. 

When  the  Reformation,  which  started  in  Germany  in  the  time  of  Mar- 
tin Luther,  spread  through  that  country,  Switzerland,  Holland,  and  Scot- 
land, the  Churches  which  protested  against  the  authority  of  the  Pope  of 
Rome  chose  elders  and  presbyters  to  manage  affairs,  and  became  known 
as  Presbyterian  Churches.  The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Holland  was 
known  as  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church. 

The  burghers  of  Amsterdam,  who  sent  the  Walloons  to  settle  Xew 
York  (see  '"Old  Times  in  the  Colonies"),  provided  the  settlers  with  a 
minister,  the  Rev.  Everardus  Bogardus,  who  was  the  first  minister  of  that 
branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America. 

When  Charles  II.  came  to  be  King  of  England,  in  1660,  he  determined 
to  make  the  people  of  Scotland,  who  were  Presbyterians,  become  Episco- 
palians. They  refused — were  imprisoned  and  oppressed.  Lighting  began. 
Men,  women,  and  children  were  cut  down  by  the  British  soldiers,  and  their 
houses  destroyed.     America  offered  them  a  place  of  refuge. 

Between  the  years  1670-1SO  a  company  of  Scotch  Presbyterians  settled 


1787-1840.] 


RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL   FORCES. 


253 


near  Norfolk,  in  Virginia;  at  Snow  Hill  and  Bladensburg,  Maryland;  and 
at  Port  Royal,  in  South  Carolina.  The  first  Presbyterian  minister  in  the 
United  States  was  Francis  Makensie,  who  began  to  preach  at  ISTorwalk,  in 
Virginia,  in  16S4.  He  visited  the  older  Presbyterians,  who  had  settled  in 
New  Jersey  and  Philadelphia. 

When  Louis  NIV.  was  King  of  France  he  sent  a  great  army  to  ravage 


FIRST    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH,  NEW    YORK. 


the  beautiful  country  along  the  river  Rhine,  called  the  Palatinate.  IJe 
conquered  so  many  cities  and  towns  that  he  could  not  garrison  them  all. 
The  people  were  mostly  Protestants.  What  should  he  do  with  them!1 
Ilis  minister,  Louvois,  was  wicked  and  cruel.  The  woman  whom  Louis 
had  privately  married,  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who  could  wind  the  King 
round  her  little  finger,  was  doing  penance  for  the  sins  of  her  early  years 


254  BUILDING   THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XVII. 

by  being  very  devout.  Was  there  any  better  way  to  gain  an  entrance  into 
heaven  than  by  getting  rid  of  heretics  ?  She  joined  with  Louvois  in  influ- 
encing the  King  to  exterminate  the  Protestants.  It  was  done.  In  1689 
the  general  commanding  the  army  of  Louis  stood  in  the  old  tower  of 
Mannheim,  on  the  Rhine,  and  gleefully  rubbed  his  hands  when  he  saw 
great  black  columns  of  smoke  darkening  the  sky — north,  east,  south,  and 
west — at  every  point  of  the  compass — twenty-two  cities  and  villages  in 
flames,  and  one  hundred  thousand  men,  women,  and  children — old  men 
with  tottering  steps,  women  with  babes  in  their  arms — fleeing  to  the  fields 
for  safety  ;  houses,  furniture,  everything  destroyed  ;  orchards  hewn  down, 
fruit  trees  girdled,  vineyards  trampled — desolation  everywhere;  food  all 
destroyed  ;  thousands  of  hungry,  starving  people — no  one  to  feed  them, 
no  one  to  succor  them — the  soldiers  mocking  at  their  misery  !  Down  the 
Valley  of  the  Rhine  fled  the  fugitives  to  find  shelter  and  hospitality  among 
the  people  of  Holland.  Queen  Anne  of  England  pitied  them,  and  sent 
ships  across  the  Channel  to  transport  them  to  London,  where  many  thou- 
sands were  fed,  on  Blackheath  Common.  Fifty  families  were  sent  to 
Limerick  County,  in  Ireland,  where  land  was  given  them,  and  where  they 
built  once  more  their  humble  homes.  Three-fourths  of  a  century  passed, 
and  during  the  time  their  descendants  had  forgotten  to  be  religious;  but 
the  followers  of  John  Wesley  went  among  them,  preaching  and  praying ; 
and  they  left  off  swearing,  fighting,  and  carousing,  and  became  industrious 
and  sober  people.  John  Wesley  himself  went  to  see  them  in  1758,  and 
wrote  this  in  his  journal:  "I  found  no  cursing  or  swearing,  no  Sabbath- 
breaking,  no  drunkenness,  no  ale-house  among  them.  Their  diligence  had 
turned  the  land  into  a  garden." 

Times  were  hard,  and  some  of  them  determined  to  make  America 
their  home,  and  came  to  New  York  in  1760.  One  of  the  emigrants  was 
Philip  Embury,  a  carpenter,  who  had  been  licensed  to  preach.  He  lived 
in  a  little  house  that  stood  in  Park  Place.  The  emigrants  were  in  a  new 
country — in  a  town  of  twenty  thousand  inhabitants.  There  were  taverns 
and  ale-houses ;  sailors  and  soldiers  throno'ed  the  streets,  cursino-  and 
swearing.  Philip  Embury,  with  no  house  to  preach  in,  with  few  to  hear 
him,  left  off  preaching.  The  religious  fervor  of  the  emigrants  waned. 
But  there  was  one  godly  woman  among  them,  Barbara  Heck,  wTho,  visit- 
ing her  cousin,  Paul  Buckle,  found  him  idling  away  his  time  and  playing 
cards.  She  seized  the  cards  and  threw  them  into  the  fire.  She  found 
Philip  Embury. 

"You  are  responsible  for  our  souls,  and  God  will  require  them  at  your 
hands,"  she  said. 


1787-1840.] 


RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL   FORCES. 


255 


lie  felt  the  rebuke,  and  began  to  preach  once  more,  in  his  own  house, 
to  Barbara  Heck  and  four  other  women.  People  passing  along  the  street 
heard  strange  sweet  music  floating  out  through  the  windows  of  the  car- 
penter's house.  They  stopped  and  listened.  Three  musicians  from  the 
King's  Regiment  went  in  to  see  what  was  going  on.  Others  followed, 
filling  the  room.     Methodism  had  begun  in  America.     One  Sunday  an 


^w 


BARBARA  HECK. 


officer  who  had  lost  an  eye  at  Louisburg,  who  had  been  wounded  in  his 
right  arm  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  came  to  the  meeting,  wearing  his 
uniform,  his  sword  clanking  on  the  floor — Captain  Thomas  Webb,  who 
had  heard  John  Wesley  preach  in  England,  and  whose  soul  was  on  fire  to 
turn  men  from  their  wicked  ways.  Wesley  had  licensed  him  to  preach. 
He  laid  his  sword  on  the  table,  and  preached  so  eloquently  that  great 
crowds  came  to  hear  him.     Barbara  Heck,  seeing  her  opportunity,  went 


256 


BUILDING   THE    NATION. 


[Chap.  XVII 


FIRST    METHODIST    CHURCH  IN    NEW    YORK.       (FROM    AX    OLD    PRINT.) 


^ 


round  among'  the  people  and  obtained  money  enough  to  build  a  church. 
The  building  was  sixty  feet  long  and  forty-two  wide,  built  of  stone — the 

first  Methodist  church  edifice  in  the 
United  States — erected  in  17GS. 

Other  men  began  to  preach,  among 

the  number  Robert  Strawbridge,  at 

;'  j       Frederick,  Maryland,  who  built  a  log 

'  rV    church,  twenty-two  feet  square,  with 

!y,  ;    a  square  hole  on  one  side  for  a  win 

dow.     He  was  so  eloquent  that  peo- 

'm^     pie  far  and  near  flocked  to  hear  him, 

^;:-     and  he  held  camp-meetings  through 

'%:    Maryland,   Delaware,  Pennsylvania, 

and  Virginia. 

In     1770    Francis    Asbury    came 

STRAWBRIDGE    MEETING-HOUSE.       (FROM   AN   OLD  ,  ,       -,  ,     pi    •!       i     i 

PMST.)  from    England,  landed    at   1  Inladel- 


1787-1840.] 


RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL   FORCES. 


257 


phia,  and  journeyed  through  all  the  country,  from  Georgia  to  Massa- 
chusetts, preaching  in  houses,  barns,  and  in  the  open  air  to  multitudes 
of  people.  lie  inspired  other  men  to  preach,  sent  them  out  on  circuits, 
forming  classes  and  churches.  He  was  made  a  bishop  —  the  first  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States.  When  the  Rev- 
olutionary war  was  over  and  the  country  at  peace,  he  again  travelled  all 
over  it. 

"  Where  are  you  from  ?"  ashed  one  of  his  hearers  in  Ohio. 


FRANCIS    ASBL'IIY. 


"  From  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  or  almost  any  place 
you  can  think  of,"  he  replied. 

It  is  only  a  little  more  than  one  hundred  years  since  the  hymn  sung 
on  a  Sunday  morning  in  Philip  Embury's  house  floated  out  on  the  sum- 
mer air;  but  it  has  echoed  over  the  continent,  making  the  Methodist 
Church  one  of  the  mighty  moral  and  religious  forces  of  the  century. 

17 


258 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVII. 


There  were  not  many  people  in  the  Colonies  when  the  Revolution 
began  who  attended  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  there  were  fewer  when  it 
closed.     The  royal  governors  during  the  Colonial  times  were  all  Episco- 


TRIXITY    CHURCH,  NEW    YORK,  1*774. 


palians,  and  did  what  they  could  to  build  np  that  Church.  The  Episcopal 
ministers  sided  with  the  King.  They  were  regarded  as  Tories,  and  the 
men  who  were  fighting  for  freedom  would  not  listen  to  their  preach- 
ing. When  the  war  was  over,  and  the  United  States  independent,  the 
Prayer-book  had  to  be  altered.  The  King  of  England  might  need  pray- 
ing for,  but  he  was  no  longer  ruler  of  the  United  States.  There  was  no 
bishop  in  America.  Ko  minister  could  be  ordained  to  preach  unless  con- 
secrated by  a  bishop.     lie  must  be  consecrated  to  keep,  as  is  claimed,  an 


1787-1840.] 


RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL   FORCES. 


259 


unbroken  line  of  consecration  back  to  the  Apostle  Peter.  To  complete 
the  chain,  according  to  the  belief  of  the  Episcopalians,  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Seabury,  of  Connecticut,  crossed  the  ocean  in  1784,  and  was  consecrated 
at  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  by  three  Scottish  bishops.  But  the  Scottish  bishops 
had  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  William  and  Mary  when  they 
became  King  and  Queen  of  England,  and  the  question  arose  whether 
Mr.  Seabury  was  or  was  not  a  bishop.  To  make  all  sure — to  keep  the 
chain  back  to  Peter  unbroken — William  White,  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
Samuel  Provoost,  of  New  York,  in  1782  went  to  England,  and  were  con- 
secrated in  the  archbishop's  parlor  at  Lambeth ;  and  the  Episcopal  Church 
took  its  place  among  the  other  religious  bodies  of  this  country. 

The  Rev.  John  Kel- 
ly, of  London,  in  1750, 
believed  that  all  men, 
good  and  bad,  would 
tin  ally  be  saved  from 
sin.  He  was  the  first 
minister  in  England  to 
preach  the  doctrine. 
Mr.  Murray,  who  had 
been  listening  to  the 
preaching  of  John  Wes- 
ley, accepted  Mr.  Kel- 
ly's belief. 

In  1770,  when  the 
country  was  aflame  for 
liberty  and  indepen- 
dence, he  came  to  the 
Colonies,  and  formed 
a  Church  in  Gloucester 
in  1779 — the  first  TJni- 
versalist  Church  in  the 
country  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Universal- 
ist  denomination. 

Through  all  the  years  of  the  Christian  era  there  have  been  men  who 
believed  that  there  was  a  unity  between  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit, 
but  that  they  were  not  a  trinity-  In  1785  the  Church  worshipping  in  King's 
Chapel,  Boston,  struck  out  from  its  liturgy  all  reference  to  the  Trinity,  and 
thus  became  a  Unitarian  Church.     In  1812  Mr.  Belsham,  of  London,  wrote 


WILLIAM    ELLERY    CIIANNIMi. 


260 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap  XVII. 


an  article,  which  was  republished  in  Boston  in  1815,  which  stated  that  many 
of  the  churches  in  New  England  were  at  heart  Unitarian.  A  great  con- 
troversy arose,  not  only  as  to  what  people  ought  or  ought  not  to  believe, 
but  as  to  the  ownership  of  churches.     There  were  hot  discussions,  angry 

sermons,  suits  in  courts, 
breaking  up  of  churches 
— one  hundred  and  fifty 
in  Massachusetts,  fifteen 
in  Maine,  and  nineteen 
in  ISTew  Hampshire  be- 
coming Unitarian  Con- 
gregationalists.  One  of 
the  most  prominent  Uni- 
tarian ministers  was  Wil- 
liam Ellery  Channing, 
pastor  of  the  church  in 
Federal  Street,  Boston — 
a  man  of  delightful  spirit, 
beloved  and  reverenced 
by  everybody. 

Other  religious  bod- 
ies came  into  existence, 
through  the  wise  provi- 
sion in  the  Constitution 
that  guarantees  freedom 
of  opinion  to  every  indi- 
vidual. Soon  after  its 
adoption  moral  forces  unknown  in  past  ages  began  to  mould  and  fashion 
the  moral  and  religious  life  of  the  nation. 


ROBERT    RAIKKS. 


Robert  Raikes,  of  England,  in  1781,  seeing  how  the  working- people 
spent  Sunday  in  drinking  rum,  playing  games,  cursing,  swearing,  and  fight- 
ing, established  a  school  on  Sunday,  teaching  them  to  read  and  write.  In 
1810  Joanna  Prince  was  teaching  a  week-day  school,  in  her  own  house, 
in  Beverly,  Massachusetts.  Hannah  Hill  assisted  her.  A  thought  came 
to  her  to  have  the  children,  whose  fathers  were  on  the  sea  catching  fish 
off  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland,  recite  verses  from  the  Bible  on  Sunday. 

The  children  were  pleased  with  the  idea,  and  came  to  her  home  on 
Sunday  afternoon,  and  recited  verses  and  hymns.  It  was  the  first  Sunday- 
school  in  America  established  solely  for  religious  teaching.     People    in 


1787-1840.] 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  FORCES. 


261 


JOANNA    PRINCE  S    SCHOOL. 


other  towns  heard  what  Joanna  Prince  and  Hannah  Hill  were  doing,  and 
formed  schools.  It  was  a  new  idea.  Some  of  the  ministers  and  deacons, 
and  the  old  gray-haired  men,  shook  their  heads.  They  were  commanded 
to  keep  the  Sabbath-day  holy:  would  it  not  be  breaking  the  command 
to  teach  a  school?  Even  though  the  children  recited  verses  from  the 
Bible,  would  they  not  be  throwing  stones  at  the  squirrels  and  birds 
and  playing  tag  in  going  or  coming?  A  church  in  New  Hampshire, 
to  make  sure  that  there  would  be  no  unseemly  conduct,  passed  this  vote: 
"None  except  those  of  good  moral  character  shall  be  admitted  to  the 
school." 

Many  good  men  were  greatly  disturbed  when  the  schools  were  estab- 

17* 


262 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVII. 


lished,  fearing  that  it  would  lead  to  no  end  of  evil.  The  mustard-seed 
of  1810  has  become  a  wide-spreading  tree,  overshadowing  all  the  land — 
the  Bible  the  one  text-book,  its  precepts  the  rule  of  life. 

The  year  before  Joanna  Prince  and  Hannah  Hill  started  the  first  Sun- 
day-school nine  of  the  Congregational  ministers  of  New  Hampshire  met 
at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Wood,  of  Boscawen — in  the  room  where 
Daniel  Webster,  when  fitting  for  college,  recited  his  lessons.  They  saw 
many  people  who  had  no  Bibles  —  who  were  too  poor  to  buy  one  or 


TVILLIAMSTOWN. 


had  not  the  inclination ;  that  there  were  few  instructive  or  entertaining 
books  for  children.  They  accordingly  took  measures  to  form,  not  only 
a  society  for  a  sj'stematic  distribution  of  Bibles,  but  of  religious  books 
and  tracts.  They  voted  to  purchase  and  distribute  four  thousand  copies 
of  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  A  Child's  Memorial ;  or,  the  Happy  Death  of 
Dinah  Dondney."  It  was  an  account  of  the  happy  life  and  death  of  a 
little  girl  in  England.  So  far  as  known  it  was  the  first  movement  on  this 
continent  for  the  distribution  of  religious  tracts. 


1787-1840.] 


RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL   FORCES. 


265 


Then  came  the  formation  of  societies — the  American  Bible  Society,  in 
1816,  which  has  translated  the  Bible  into  nearly  all  languages ;  the  forma- 
tion of  the  American  Tract  Society,  which  has  printed  many  millions  of 
books  and  tracts,  and  distributed  them  broadcast  over  the  land. 


On  a  summer  afternoon,  in  1806,  Samuel  J.  Mills,  James  Richards, 
Francis  L.  Bobbins,  Harvy  Loomis,  and  Bergun  Green,  students  of  Williams 
College,  Williamstown,  Massachusetts,  went  out  for  a  walk.  A  black  cloud 
was  rising,  the  lightning  flashing,  the  thunder  rolling;  and  when  the  rain 
came  they  ran  to  a  hay-stack  and  curled  down  under  it  for  shelter.  They 
were  studying  geography,  and  were  thinking  of  becoming  ministers.  They 
talked  about  the  people  in  Asia  who  were  worshipping  idols. 

"We  can  carry  the  Gospel  to  them,"  said  Mr.  Mills. 

"That  is  so;  we  can- — it  is  our  duty,"  said  all  but  one,  who  doubted 
if  any  great  good  could  be  done  in  that  direction. 

They  sung  a  hymn  and  joined  in  prayer.  They  were  young,  just  be- 
yond boyhood ;  they  were  poor,  working  their  way,  as  best  they  could, 
through  college ;  they  had  very  little  influence,  but  a  great  idea  had  come 
to  them,  one  of  the  greatest  that  can  take  possession  of  the  soul — the  giv- 
ing of  a  Christian  civilization  to  one  thousand  millions  of  the  human  race! 


COLLEGE    AND    LIBRARY,  WILLIAMSTON. 


266  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XVII. 

Not  a  selling,  but  a  giving.  What  had  they  to  give?  Only  themselves. 
The}7  could  be  of  little  account;  but  the  truth,  the  Gospel,  the  good  news 
of  God — that  He  was  a  father,  Jesus  Christ  their  Saviour  and  best  friend — 
they  believed  that  such  teaching  would  lift  men  from  their  degradation, 
civilize,  Christianize  them,  and  secure  their  happiness  in  this  life  and  in 
the  life  eternal.  They  formed  a  missionary  society  in  the  college,  went  to 
other  colleges  to  talk  it  over  with  other  students,  arousing  enthusiasm  for 
the  grand  idea — resulting  in  the  formation  of  the  American  Board  of  For- 
eign Missions,  the  first  great  missionary  society  in  the  United  States,  which 
has  sent  out  many  hundred  men  and  women,  who  have  established  schools, 
gathered  churches,  giving  a  Christian  civilization  to  hundreds  of  thousands 
in  heathen  lands. 

Music  has  been  classed  as  one  of  the  tine  or  liberal  arts;  but  it  has 
also  been  a  religious  force  in  the  history  of  our  country. 

When  the  Pilgrims  came  to  this  Western  World  they  brought  with 
them  a  copy  of  the  Psalms  of  David,  paraphrased  by  Ainsworth,  which 
M-as  their  only  hymn-book.  In  King  James's  version  of  the  Bible  the  first 
and  second  verses  of  the  first  Psalm  are  thus  given : 

"  1.  Blessed  is  the  man  that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly,  nor  standeth  in  the 
way  of  sinners,  nor  sitteth  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful. 

"  2.  But  his  delight  is  in  the  law  of  the  Lord ;  and  in  his  law  doth  he  meditate  day  and 
night." 

In  the  book  from  which  the  Pilgrims  sung  it  read: 

"1.  0  blessed  that  doth  not  "2.  But  setteth  in  Jehovah's  law 

In  wicked  counsell  walk  ;  His  pleasuref  ul  delight ; 

Nor  stand  in  sinner's  way,  And  in  his  law  doth  meditate 

Nor  sit  in  seat  of  scornfull  folk.  By  day  and  eke  by  night." 

In  1640  the  Bay  State  Psalm-book  was  printed  at  Cambridge,  on  the 
first  printing-press  set  up  in  the  Colonies.  The  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
third  Psalm  was  thus  arranged: 

"How  good  and  sweet  to  see 
It's  for  brethren  to  dwel 
Together  in  unitee : 

"It's  like  choice  oyle  that  fell 
The  head  upon ; 
That  down  did  flow, 
The  beard  unto, 
Beard  of  Aron, 
The  skirts  of  his  garment, 
That   unto  them   went  down." 


1787-1840.]  RELIGIOUS  AND  MOKAL   FORCES.  269 

The  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  had  very  few  tunes — not  more  than  eight 
or  ten — and  when  the  seventeenth  century  closed  the  number  in  use  did 
not  exceed  thirty.  The  people  sung  by  rote.  Their  music  could  not  have 
been  very  melodious,  according  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Walters,  who  preached  a 
sermon  on  music. 

"Singing,"  he  said,  "sounds  like  five  hundred  different  tunes  roared 
out  at  the  same  time.  The  singers  are  often  two  words  apart,  producing 
noises  so  hideous  and  disorderly  as  is  bad  beyond  expression.  The  notes 
are  so  prolonged  that  I  myself  have  twice  in  one  note  paused  to  take 
breath." 

Mr.  Walters,  the  Re  v.  Mr.  Tufts,  and  a  few  ministers  attempted  to  bring 
about  a  reform  in  singing.  They  wanted  new  tunes,  and  wished  the  sing- 
ing to  be  improved.  The  young  people  desired  reform ;  the  old  people 
opposed  it.  Mi*.  Tufts  published  a  music-book,  with  rules  and  names  for 
the  notes  fa,  sol,  la.  The  book  contained  twenty-eight  tunes.  It  created 
a  great  discussion  and  commotion.  The  old  ministers  preached  against 
the  innovation. 

"  There  are  so  many  tunes,"  said  one  minister, "  that  the  people  never 
can  learn  them.  The  new  way  of  singing  is  popish.  The  notes  y^,  sol,  la 
are  blasphemous.  The  old  way  is  good  enough.  The  new  way  will  re- 
quire a  great  deal  of  time  to  learn  the  rules.  It  will  make  the  young 
people  disorderly.  If  they  go  to  singing -school  they  will  be  having 
frolics." 

The  new  method  made  its  way  notwithstanding  the  objections.  In 
1761:  Josiah  Flagg,  of  Boston,  published  a  book  containing  one  hundred 
and  sixteen  tunes  and  two  anthems — the  first  book  printed  in  America 
with  music  in  four  parts.  In  1770  Mr.  Billings  published  a  book  which 
contained  some  of  his  own  tunes,  which  became  very  popular. 

Before  the  Revolution  the  hymns  were  "deaconed" — the  deacon  of  the 
church  standing  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  reading  a  line,  the  congregation 
singing  it,  then  reading  another,  and  so  on  through  the  hymn. 

When  the  Revolution  was  over,  when  no  more  was  heard  the  drum- 
beat calling  the  people  to  arms,  the  singing-master  appeared.  Delightful 
the  evenings  in  the  school -houses,  where  the  young  men  and  maidens 
learned  to  beat  time,  read  the  notes,  the  bass,  treble,  tenor,  and  counter, 
successively  taking  up  their  parts  in  the  fuguing  tunes  of  the  period, 
and  then  on  Sunday,  standing  in  the  singers'  seats,  with  a  bass-viol  to 
keep  them  company,  making  music  that  thrilled  and  delighted  the  con- 
gregation ! 

There  was  great  opposition  to  the  use  of  viols  and  violins  in  the  church. 


270  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XVII. 

"A  violin  is  the  devil's  instrument,"  said  one  minister. 

As  the  years  passed  by  good  men  began  to  see  that  music  and  musical 
instruments  should  have  an  exalted  place  in  religious  service,  and  not  only 
viols  and  violins,  but  flutes,  bugles,  horns,  clarinets,  bassoons,  and  trom- 
bones began  to  be  used,  and  a  higher  class  of  music — tunes  composed  by 
Handel,  Haydn,  and  Mozart  —  the  old  fuguing  compositions  of  Billings, 
Holden,  Reed,  and  Swan  disappearing  about  1S30.  Then  came  songs  for 
children — the  introduction  of  music  into  the  Sunday-schools,  and  still  later 
into  the  common-schools,  making  music  a  great  moral  and  religious  force 
in  the  building  of  the  nation. 


1787-1840.]  PROGRESS   OF  TEMPERANCE.  271 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

PROGRESS     OF    TEMPERANCE. 

WAY  back  in  the  centuries  an  old  alchemist,  who  was  trying  to 
find  out  how  to  make  gold,  discovered  instead  how  to  distil  alco- 
hol. In  the  course  of  time  men  learned  to  distil  rum,  gin,  brandy,  and 
whiskey. 

In  the  year  1700  some  Boston  merchants,  visiting  the  West  Indies, 
saw  that  the  sugar-makers  were  throwing  away  the  molasses  and  sirup 
that  dripped  from  the  sugar.  The  merchants  knew  that  rum  could  be 
distilled  from  molasses,  and  saw  that  there  was  a  chance  to  make  money. 
They  shipped  the  drippings  to  Boston,  built  a  distillery,  and  began  the 
manufacture  of  New  England  rum.  Everybody  drank  intoxicating  drinks 
— ministers,  doctors,  lawyers,  merchants,  farmers,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren. The  rich  merchants  in  the  cities  had  mahogany  sideboards  and 
finely-cut  glass  decanters.  Well-to-do  farmers  kept  an  array  of  jugs  and 
bottles  in  their  corner  cupboards,  and  in  their  cellars  casks  of  cider  and 
cherry-rum.  Upon  rising  in  the  morning  a  glass  of  licpior  must  be  taken 
to  give  an  appetite  for  breakfast.  At  eleven  o'clock  the  merchant  in  his 
counting-room,  the  blacksmith  at  his  forge,  the  mower  in  the  hay-field,  took 
a  dram  to  give  them  strength  till  the  ringing  of  the  bell  or  the  sounding 
of  the  horn  for  dinner.  In  mid-afternoon  they  drank  again.  When  work 
for  the  day  was  done,  before  going  to  bed  they  quaffed  another  glass.  It 
was  the  daily  routine  of  drinking  in  well-regulated  and  termj)erate  fami- 
lies. Hospitalities  began  with  drinking.  "What  will  you  take?"  was 
the  question  of  host  to  visitor.  Not  to  accept  the  proffered  hospitality 
was  disrespectful.  Was  there  a  raising  of  a  meeting-house,  there  must 
be  hospitality  for  all  the  parish — no  lack  of  liquor;  and  when  the  last 
timber  was  in  its  place  a  bottle  of  rum  must  be  broken  upon  the  ridge- 
pole. In  winter  men  drank  to  keep  themselves  warm  ;  in  summer,  to 
keep  themselves  cool ;  on  rainy  days,  to  keep  out  the  wet ;  on  dry  days, 
to  keep  the  body  in  moisture.  Friends,  meeting  or  parting,  drank  to 
perpetuate  their  friendship.     Huskers  around  the   corn -stack,  workmen 


272 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVIII. 


ill  the  field,  master  and  apprentice  in  the  shop,  passed  the  brown  jug  from 
lip  to  lip.  The  lawyer  drank  before  writing  his  brief  or  pleading  at  the 
bar;  the  minister,  while  preparing  his  sermon  or  before  preaching  it  from 


THE    MORNING    DRAM. 


the  pulpit.     At  weddings  bridegroom,  bride,  groomsman,  and  guest  quaffed 
sparkling  wines.     At  funerals  minister,  mourner,  friend,  neighbor,  all  ex- 


1787-1840.] 


PROGRESS   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


273 


cept  the  corpse,  drank  of  the  bountiful  supply  of  liquors  always  provided. 
Not  to  drink  was  disrespectful  to  living  and  dead,  and  depriving  them- 
selves of  comfort  and  consolation. 

In  every  community  there  were  blear-eyed  men  with  bloated  or  hag- 
gard faces ;  weeping  women,  starving  children.  On  the  piazza  of  every 
way -side  inn  were  seedy  loungers,  running  up  scores  on  the  landlord's 
books,  or  waiting  to  accept  the  invitation  of  neighbors  or  travellers  to 
"take  a  drink."     In  every  town  or  village  were  groggeries,  where  men 


WAITING    FOR    A    DRINK. 


and  boys  idled  their  time  away,  spending  their  little  earnings  in  drink  or 
demoralizing  games. 

Lawyers  found  employment  in  making  out  mortgages  or  writing  de- 
crees of  foreclosure.  Sheriffs  became  rich  through  serving  writs.  Men, 
once  honored  and  respected,  who  had  started  in  life  with  high  hopes  and 
grand  resolves,  were  reeling  through  the  streets,  or  found  themselves  and 
families  in  the  poor-house.  In  the  jails  were  those  who,  in  drunken  frenzy, 
murdered  loving  wife,  prattling  child,  or  dearest  friend. 

The  manufacture  and  sale  of  rum  became  a  mighty  traffic.     It  was 

IS 


274 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVIII. 


the  great  staple  in  every  country  store — sold  by  the  gallon,  quart,  pint,  or 
gill.  It  was  so  cheap  that  everybody  could  buy  it.  In  1775  (when  the 
Revolution  began),  twenty  thousand  hogsheads  were  manufactured  in  New 
England.  In  the  closing  year  of  the  second  war  with  England  more  than 
fifty  million  gallons  were  distilled  in  the  United  States ;  farmers  could  sell 
their  rye  and  corn  at  the  distillery  and  obtain  their  rum  cheap,  and  they 
were  regarded  as  blessings. 

In   1808  the  citizens  of  Moreau,  New  York,  appalled  at  the  tide  of 
demoralization  arising  from  the  drinking  of  rum.  formed   a  societv  to 


IDLING    THEIR    TIME    AWAY. 


discourage  excessive  drinking — agreeing  not  to  drink  rum  every  day,  but 
only  on  special  occasions :  at  public  dinners,  or  when  they  did  not  feel 
well.     It  was  the  first  temperance  society  organized  in  the  country. 

In  1813  some  ministers  in  Boston  formed  a  society  for  the  suppression 
of  intemperance ;  but  nothing  came  of  it,  and  the  distilling  and  drinking 
went  on.  There  was  no  abatement  of  misery  and  woe.  Jails  became 
crowded  with  criminals,  alms-houses  with  paupers,  and  in  the  cemeteries 
the  turf  was  heaped  on  those  who,  in  the  prime  of  life,  had  gone  down  to 
drunkards'  graves. 


1787-1840.]  PEOGRESS   OF  TEMPEEANCE.  275 

The  time  for  reform  came.  Thinking  men  saw  the  demoralization,  and 
traced  it  to  the  universal  use  of  rum.  It  was  seen  that  drunkenness  was 
a  crime  of  the  individual  against  himself  and  against  society.  Ministers 
preached  in  favor  of  temperance.  Societies  were  formed — the  members 
pledging  themselves  to  abstain  from  drinking.  Churches  passed  resolu- 
tions that  the  daily  and  habitual  use  of  distilled  liquors  was  inconsistent 
with  upright  Christian  character.  Some  of  the  church -members,  how- 
ever, were  greatly  offended  at  such  action,  and  said  that  it  took  away 
their  liberty.  The  reform  began  in  1830.  Many  men  left  off  drinking, 
but  distilleries  still  flourished. 

George  B.  Cheever  was  a  young  minister  in  Salem,  Massachusetts. 
His  soul  was  stirred  when  he  looked  out  from  his  study  window  and  saw 
the  smoke  rolling  up  from  the  tall  chimneys  of  four  distilleries,  which 
manufactured  six  hundred  thousand  gallons  of  rum  every  year.  In  the 
harbor  were  vessels  filled  with  hogsheads  of  molasses,  brought  from  the 
West  Indies  to  be  distilled,  and  other  vessels  freighted  with  rum  for 
Africa.  He  reflected  that  out  of  that  rum  would  come  battles,  capture 
of  prisoners,  and  their  sale  to  negro  traders.  He  saw  long  lines  of  teams 
loading  at  the  doors  of  the  distilleries,  and  moving  away  carrying  rum  to 
all  the  country  towns.  From  his  study  window  he  beheld  the  alms- 
houses crowded  with  paupers.  One  of  the  distilleries  was  owned  by  a 
Mr.  Stone,  one  of  whose  workmen,  while  intoxicated,  was  scalded  to  death 
in  a  vat  of  hot  rum.  Mr.  Stone  was  a  good  man.  He  was  kind  to  the 
poor,  deacon  of  one  of  the  churches,  treasurer  of  a  Bible  Society,  and 
kept  Bibles  for  sale  in  his  counting-room,  in  one  corner  of  his  distillery. 
Mr.  Cheever  saw  how  inconsistent  it  was  to  combine  the  profession  of 
religious  principles  with  the  soul-destroying  traffic  in  liquor.  His  soul 
was  on  fire.  He  had  a  dream — "  which  was  not  all  a  dream  " — about  a 
distillery  owned  by  Deacon  Giles.  He  wrote  it  out  and  published  it  in  a 
newspaper.     This  was  what  he  dreamed  : 

"Deacon  Giles  was  a  man  who  loved  money,  and  was  never  troubled  with  tenderness  of  con- 
science. His  father  and  his  grandfather  before  him  had  been  distillers,  and  the  same  occupation 
had  come  to  him  as  an  heirloom  in  the  family.  The  still-house  was  black  with  age,  as  well  as  with 
the  smoke  of  furnaces  that  never  went  out.  Its  owner  was  treasurer  of  a  Bible  Society,  and  he 
had  a  little  counting-room  in  one  corner  of  the  distillery,  where  he  sold  Bibles. 

"  Deacon  Giles  worked  on  the  Sabbath.  He  would  not  suffer  the  fires  of  the  distillery  to  go 
out.  One  Saturday  afternoon  his  workmen  had  quarrelled,  and  all  went  off  in  anger.  He  was  in 
much  perplexity  for  want  of  hands  to  do  the  work  of  the  devil  on  the  Lord's  day.  In  the  dusk 
of  the  evening  a  gang  of  singular-looking  fellows  entered  the  door  of  the  distillery.  Their  dress 
was  wild  and  uncouth,  their  eyes  glared  strangely.  They  offered  to  work  for  the  Deacon ;  and  he, 
on  his  part,  was  overjoyed,  for  he  thought  within  himself  that,  as  they  had  probably  been  turned 
out  of  employment  elsewhere,  he  could  engage  them  on  his  own  terms. 


276 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVIII. 


MAKING    THE    BARGAIN.       (COPIED    FROM    A    CCT   IN   THE    PAMPHLET.) 

"  He  made  them  his  accustomed  offer — as  much  rum  every  day,  when  work  was  done,  as  they 
could  drink ;  but  they  would  not  take  it.  Some  of  them  broke  out  and  told  him  that  they  had 
enough  of  hot  things  where  they  came  from  without  drinking  damnation  in  the  distillery.  And 
when  they  said  that  it  seemed  to  the  Deacon  as  if  their  breath  burned  blue ;  but  he  was  not  cer- 
tain, and  could  not  tell  what  to  make  of  it.  Then  he  offered  them  a  pittance  of  money ;  but  they 
set  up  such  a  laugh  that  he  thought  that  the  roof  of  the  building  would  fall  in.  They  demanded 
a  sum  which  the  Deacon  said  he  could  not  give,  and  would  not,  to  the  best  set  of  workmen  that 
ever  lived,  much  less  to  such  piratical-looking  scape-jails  as  they.  Finally,  he  said  he  would  give 
half  what  they  asked,  if  they  would  take  two-thirds  of  that  in  Bibles.  When  he  mentioned  the 
word  Bibles  they  all  looked  toward  the  door,  and  made  a  step  backward,  and  the  Deacon  thought 
they  trembled ;  but  whether  it  was  with  anger  or  delirium  tremens,  or  something  else,  he  could 
not  tell.  However,  they  winked  and  made  signs  to  each  other ;  and  then  one  of  them,  who  seemed 
to  be  the  head  man,  agreed  with  the  Deacon  that,  if  he  would  let  them  work  by  night  instead  of 
dav,  they  would  stay  with  him  awhile,  and  work  on  his  own  terms.  To  this  he  agreed,  and  they 
immediately  went  to  work. 

"  The  Deacon  had  a  fresh  cargo  of  molasses  to  be  worked  up,  and  a  great  many  hogsheads 
then  in  from  his  country  customers  to  be  filled  with  liquor.  When  he  went  home  he  locked  the 
doors,  leaving  the  distillery  to  his  new  workmen.  As  soon  as  he  was  gone  you  would  have  thought 
that  one  of  the  chambers  of  hell  had  been  transported  to  earth,  with  all  its  inmates.  The  distil- 
lery glowed  with  fires  that  burned  hotter  than  ever  before ;  and  the  figures  of  the  demons  passing 
to  and  fro,  and  leaping  and  yelling  in  the  midst  of  their  work,  made  it  look  like  the  entrance  to  the 
bottomless  pit. 


1787-1840.] 


PROGRESS   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


277 


"  Some  of  them  sat  astride  the  rafters,  over  the  heads  of  the  others,  and  amused  themselves 
with  blowing  flames  out  of  their  mouths.  The  work  of  distilling  seemed  play  to  them,  and  they 
carried  it  on  with  supernatural  rapidity.  It  was  hot  enough  to  have  boiled  the  molasses  in  any 
part  of  the  distillery ;  but  they  did  not  seem  to  mind  it  at  all.  Some  lifted  the  hogsheads  as  easily 
as  you  would  raise  a  teacup,  and  turned  their  contents  into  the  proper  receptacles ;  some  scummed 
the  boiling  liquids  ;  some  with  huge  ladles  dipped  the  smoking  fluids  from  the  diffei'ent  vats,  and, 
raising  it  high  in  the  air,  seemed  to  take  great  delight  in  watching  the  fiery  stream  as  they  spouted 
it  back  again ;  some  drafted  the  distilled  liquor  into  empty  casks  and  hogsheads ;  some  stirred  the 
fires ;  all  wei'e  boisterous  and  horridly  profane. 

"  I  gathered  from  their  talk  that  they  were  going  to  play  a  trick  upon  the  Deacon,  that  should 
cure  him  of  offering  rum  and  Bibles  to  his  workmen.  They  were  going  to  write  certain  inscrip- 
tions on  all  his  rum  casks,  that  should  remain  invisible  until  they  were  sold  by  the  Deacon,  but 
should  flame  out  in  characters  of  fire  as  soon  as  they  were  broached  by  his  retailers,  or  exposed 
for  the  use  of  the  drunkards.  When  they  had  filled  a  few  casks  with  liquor,  one  of  them  took  a 
great  coal  of  fire,  and,  having  quenched  it  in  a  mixture  of  rum  and  molasses,  proceeded  to  write, 
apparently  by  way  of  experiment,  upon  the  heads  of  the  different  vessels.  Just  as  it  was  dawn 
they  left  off  work  and  vanished  together. 

"  In  the  evening  the  men  came  again,  and  the  Deacon  locked  them  in  by  themselves,  and  they 
went  to  work.  They  finished  all  his  molasses,  and  filled  all  his  rum  barrels  and  kegs  and  hogs- 
heads with  liquor,  and  marked  them  all,  as  on  the  preceding  night,  with  invisible  inscriptions. 
Most  of  the  titles  ran  thus : 

"  '  Consumption  Sold  Here.  Inquire  at  Deacon  Giles's  Distillery.'  '  Insanity  and  Murder.  In- 
quire at  Deacon  Giles's  Distillery.'     '  Delirium  Tremens.     Inquire  at  Deacon  Giles's  Distillery.' 

"  Many  of  the  casks  had  on  them  inscriptions  like  the  following : 

"  '  Distilled  Death  and  Liquid  Damnation.'  '  The  Elixir  of  Hell  for  the  Bodies  of  Those  whose 
Souls  are  Cominc;  There.' 


THE    DEMONS    IN    THE    DISTILLERY.       (COPIED    FROM    A    CUT    IN    THE    PAMPHLET.) 

IS* 


278 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XVIII. 


BURSTING    OUT    OF    THE    FLAMES.      (COPIED    FROM    A    CUT    IN    THE    PAMPHLET.) 


"  Some  of  the  demons  had  even  taken  sentences  from  the  Scriptures  and  marked  the  hogsheads 
thus : 

"  '  Who  hath  Woe  ?  Inquire  at  Deacon  Giles's  Distillery.'  '  Who  hath  Redness  of  Eyes  ?  In- 
quire at  Deacon  Giles's  Distillery.' 

"All  these  inscriptions  burned,  when  visible,  a  'still  and  awful  red.' 

"In  the  morning  the  workmen  vanished  as  before,  just  as  it  was  dawn;  but  in  the  dusk  of  the 
evening  they  came  again,  and  told  the  Deacon  it  was  against  their  principles  to  take  any  wages  for 
work  done  between  Saturday  night  and  Monday  morning,  and  as  they  could  not  stay  with  him  any 
longer,  he  was  welcome  to  what  they  had  done.  The  Deacon  was  very  urgent  to  have  them  re- 
main, and  offered  to  hire  them  for  the  season  at  any  wages ;  but  they  would  not.  So  he  thanked 
them,  and  they  went  away,  and  he  saw  them  no  more. 

"  In  the  course  of  the  week  most  of  the  casks  were  sent  into  the  country,  and  duly  hoisted  on 
their  stoops,  in  conspicuous  situations,  in  the  taverns  and  groceries  and  rum-shops.  But  no  sooner 
had  the  first  glass  been  drawn  from  any  of  them  than  the  invisible  inscription  flamed  out  on  the 
cask-head  to  every  beholder:  'Consumption  Sold  Here,  Delirium  Tremens,  Damnation,  and  Hell- 
fire.'  The  drunkards  were  terrified  from  the  dram-shops ;  the  bar-rooms  were  emptied  of  their 
customers ;  but  in  their  place  a  gaping  crowd  filled  every  store  that  possessed  a  cask  of  the  Dea- 
con's devil-distilled  liquor,  to  wonder  and  be  affrighted  at  the  spectacle;  for  no  art  could  efface  the 
inscription. 

"  The  rum-sellers,  and  grocers,  and  tavern-keepers  were  full  of  fury.  They  loaded  their  teams 
with  the  accursed  liquor,  and  drove  it  back  to  the  distillery.  All  around  and  before  the  door  of 
the  Deacon's  establishment  the  returned  casks  were  piled  one  upon  another,  and  it  seemed  as  if 


1787-1840.] 


PROGRESS   OF  TEMPERANCE. 


279 


the  inscriptions  burned  brighter  than  ever — Consumption,  Damnation,  Death,  and  Hell  mingled  to- 
gether in  frightful  confusion ;  and  in  equal  prominence,  in  every  case,  flamed  out  the  direction, 
'  Inquire  at  Deacon  Giles's  Distillery.' 

"The  Deacon  had  to  turn  a  vast  quantity  of  liquor  into  the  streets,  and  burn  up  the  hogsheads, 
and  his  distillery  has  smelled  of  brimstone  ever  since;  but  he  would  not  give  up  the  trade.  He 
carries  it  on  still,  and  every  time  I  see  his  advertisement, '  Inquire  at  Amos  Giles's  Distillery,'  I  think 
I  see  Hell  and  Damnation,  and  he  the  proprietor." 


BRINGING    BACK    THE    RUM.      (COPIED    FROM    A    CUT    IN    THE    PAMPHLET.) 


The  newspapers  all  over  the  country  published  the  dream.  Mr.  Stone 
was  greatly  offended  at  Mr.  Cheever,  who  was  arrested  for  publishing  a 
libel.  Everybody  talked  about  the  dream.  Men  saw  what  they  never 
before  had  seen — how  terrible  the  woe  that  came  from  so  much  drinking. 
The  ablest  lawyers  of  Massachusetts  were  employed  to  prosecute  and  de- 
fend. The  Court  said  it  was  a  libel,  and  then  Mr.  Cheever  was  put  in  jail, 
which  made  it  all  the  worse  for  Mr.  Stone  and  those  who  owned  distilleries. 

But  his  dream,  witli  its  illustrations,  was  sown  broadcast  over  the*  land. 
The  temperance  cause,  which  had  begun  to  die  out,  went  on  with  increased 
vigor.  Societies  were  formed,  public  sentiment  aroused,  distillery  fires 
ceased  to  blaze;  there  were  fewer  paupers,  less  misery  and  woe.     It  may 


2S0  BUILDING  THE  XATIOX.  [Chap.  XVIII. 

be  questioned  whether  any  other  pamphlet  published  in  the  United  States 
has  been  so  far-reaching  in  its  influence  as  that  describing  Deacon  Giles's 
distillery. 

How  should  men  be  kept  from  drinking  rum  ?  Massachusetts  passed 
a  law  forbidding  the  sale  of  less  than  fifteen  gallons  of  liquor — thinking 
that,  as  nobody  could  drink  fifteen  gallons  at  once,  and  as  few  men  would 
want  to  purchase  that  amount,  it  would  put  an  end  to  the  sale.  Men 
found  a  way,  however,  to  get  liquor  notwithstanding  the  law.  At  a  cat- 
tle-show a  man  advertised  that  in  a  tent  by  itself  was  a  most  wonderful 
pig — -with  black,  red,  green,  and  yellow  stripes  around  its  body.  People 
paid  ten  cents  to  see  it.  Crowds  went  in,  and  came  out  smacking  their 
lips.     They  had  seen  the  painted  pig,  and  had  a  drink  into  the  bargain. 

John  Pierpont  was  minister  of  the  Hollis  Street  Church,  Boston,  which 
had  a  cellar  under  it,  which  was  rented  to  a  distiller  for  the  storage  of 
rum.  Mr.  Pierpont  drank  cold  water,  and  preached  against  rum-selling, 
which  made  some  of  his  church-members  very  angry.  They  arraigned  him 
before  an  ecclesiastical  council,  and  compelled  him  to  leave  the  pulpit. 

Somebody  published  the  following  lines  about  the  Hollis  Street  Church 
and  the  rum  in  the  cellar : 

"  There's  a  spirit  above, 
And  a  spirit  below ; 
A  spirit  of  love, 

And  a  spirit  of  woe : 
The  spirit  above  is  the  Spirit  Divine, 
The  spirit  below  is  the  spirit  of  wine.-' 

While  the  members  of  the  Hollis  Street  Church  were  prosecuting 
their  pastor  for  his  preaching  on  temperance  a  scene  of  a  different  char- 
acter was  transpiring  in  Baltimore. 

In  the  bar-room  of  a  tavern,  when  work  for  the  day  was  done,  a  tailor, 
carpenter,  coach-maker,  silver-plater,  and  two  blacksmiths  met  one  even- 
ing in  1840,  as  they  were  accustomed  to  meet,  to  drink  their  grog. 

"There  is  a  temperance-meeting  close  by;  let  us  go  and  hear  what 
they  will  have  to  say,"  said  one. 

'•  Agreed." 

Four  of  them  went,  and  when  it  was  over  came  back  to  the  tavern  to 
take  another  glass  of  rum. 

"  Temperance  is  a  good  thing,"  said  one. 

"  Ministers  and  temperance  people  are  hypocrites,"  said  the  landlord. 

"  Oh.  yes !  yon  cry  them  down  because  you  want  to  sell  liquor,"  James 
McCurly,  the  coach-maker,  replied. 


1787-1840.] 


PROGRESS   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


281 


"I'll  tell  you  what,  boys:  let  us  form  a  temperance  society,  and  make 
Bill  Mitchell  president,"  said  George  Steer,  one  of  the  blacksmiths. 
"Ha!  ha!  ha!     Agreed." 
They  laughed  at  the  joke ;  but,  as  they  thought  it  over,  the  idea  did 


"-i!^^^^, 

h^bPbbiHhi' 


BHBB 


JOHN    PIEKPONT. 


not  seem  to  be  a  joke,  but  something  worth  thinking  about  in  earnest. 
Saturday  night  came.  They  met  once  more  in  the  bar-room,  not  to  drink, 
but  to  talk  over  a  plan  for  a  total  abstinence  society. 

(i  We  do  pledge  ourselves  as  gentlemen  that  we  will  not  drink  any 
spirituous  or  malt  liquor,  wine,  or  cider,"  was  the  agreement  to  which  they 
signed  their  names.  The  Washingtonian  Temperance  Society  was  formed, 
and  each  member  agreed  to  bring  a  friend  to  the  next  meeting. 

"See  here:  if  you  ain't  going  to  drink,  you  can't  stay  here,"  said  the 
landlord's  wife,  and  the  society  went  to  a  carpenter's  shop.  Each  man 
brought  a  drunkard  to  the  next  meeting.  The  men  who  had  been  down 
were  helping  their  friends  who  were  clown.  It  was  a  new  evangel,  which 
swept  over  the  land,  purifying,  ennobling — the  incoming  of  a  far-reaching 
and  enduring  moral  power. 


282  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XIX. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

PREJUDICE    AGAINST    COLOR. 

IT  is  natural  for  men  to  hate  those  whom  they  have  wronged.  When 
the  planters  of  Virginia,  in  1619,  bought  their  first  slaves  (see  "Old 
Times  in  the  Colonies");  when  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  and  all  the  other  Colonies  began  to  purchase  slaves  stolen 
from  Africa,  they  began  a  great  wrong,  out  of  which,  as  time  went  on, 
came  throughout  the  Northern  States  an  intense  prejudice  against  free 
negroes,  and  a  desire  to  get  them  out  of  the  country ;  for  it  is  also  nat- 
ural in  men  to  endeavor  to  get  rid  of  those  whom  they  have  injured. 

In  1773  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins  and  the  Rev.  Ezra  Staples,  of  New- 
port, Rhode  Island,  knowing  that  the  slave-trade  was  a  horrible  business, 
conceived  the  idea  of  sending  free  negroes  to  Africa,  to  plant  colonies 
along  tiie  coast,  which  they  thought  would  put  an  end  to  the  traffic. 

Nothing  came  of  it,  however,  till  1816,  when  Samuel  J.  Mills,  the 
warm  -  hearted  man  who  had  helped  form  the  American  Missionary 
Society  at  Williamstown,  Massachusetts;  Francis  S.  Key,  who  wrote  the 
"Star-spangled  Banner;"  R.  B.  Finley,  of  New  Jersey,  a  philanthropist; 
and  others,  formed  the  American  Colonization  Society.  They  believed 
that  colored  men  never  could  be  of  any  account  in  the  United  States, 
because  of  a  prejudice  against  them.  In  the  dictionary  we  have  this 
definition  of  jprej ud ice:  ''An  unreasoning  predilection  for  or  against 
anything." 

A  colored  person  was  called  a  "  nigger."  lie  had  no  rights.  Ne- 
groes fought  under  General  Washington  ;  they  were  soldiers  in  the  war 
of  1812 -'15.  Negroes  stood  behind  the  breastworks  at  New  Orleans, 
under  General  Jackson ;  but  the  nation  had  accorded  them  no  rights 
under  the  Constitution.  Society  gave  them  no  privileges  equal  to  those 
of  white  men.  A  colored  man  might  be  intelligent,  well-behaved,  cour- 
teous— a  gentleman  in  deportment — but  he  must  do  menial  service.  His 
place  was  in  the  stable,  kitchen,  doing  drudgery.  If  he  wanted  to  travel 
he  must  go  on  foot.     He  could  not  ride   on  a  stage   unless  on  the  top 


1787-1840.]  PREJUDICE   AGAINST   COLOR.  283 

or  on  the  rack  behind  with  the  trunks,  even  though  he  paid  full  fare.  Col- 
ored people  were  regarded  as  baggage.  In  the  meeting-house  their  place 
was  in  the  gallery,  in  the  "  nigger  pew."  Though  members  of  the  church, 
they  could  not  sit  down-stairs  Math  the  congregation.  At  communion  they 
must  wait  till  the  white  members  had  taken  the  bread  and  wine. 

In  the  common-school  there  was  no  seat  for  a  colored  boy  or  girl.  Mis- 
sionaries were  making  their  way  to  India  to  teach  the  heathen.  Indian 
boys  and  girls  were  being  gathered  into  schools,  but  there  was  no  school- 
master for  the  colored  people.  The  men  who  founded  the  Colonization 
Society  thought  that  by  sending  them  to  Africa  the  whole  of  that  dark 
continent  would  in  time  be  civilized  and  Christianized.  They  did  not  see 
that  they  themselves  needed  Christianizing. 

"We  do  not  intend  to  interfere  with  slavery;  we  shall  send  only  free 
negroes,"  they  said. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Mills  and  Ebenezer  Burgess  sailed  to  Africa,  and  selected 
a  place  for  a  settlement.  Agents  travelled  through  the  country,  preaching 
on  Sunday  of  the  glorious  work,  picturing  the  redemption  of  the  heathen 
tribes  from  barbarism  through  the  civilizing  influences  of  the  free  col- 
ored people  who  were  to  be  sent  there.  Church -members  contributed 
liberally  of  their  money.  Congress  appropriated  $100,000;  and  in  1820 
thirty-eight  colored  people  emigrated  to  Africa,  and  made  a  settlement  at 
Liberia. 

Men  were  thinking  as  never  before  in  regard  to  human  rights.  Eng- 
land had  eio-ht  hundred  thousand  slaves  in  the  West  Indies.  Lar<re-hearfed 
men — Wilberforce,  Clarkson,  Gurney,  in  England,  and  Daniel  O'Connell, 
in  Ireland — were  doing  what  they  could  to  induce  Parliament  to  emanci- 
pate them. 

When  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  in  1787,  it  Avas  agreed  that  the 
slave-trade  should  cease  in  1S08.  It  was  supposed  that  slavery  in  the 
Southern  States  would  die  out,  as  it  had  in  the  Northern;  but  the  men 
who  framed  the  Constitution  did  not  see  what  would  come  of  James  Ilar- 
greaves  and  Richard  Arkwright's  inventions  in  spinning,  and  of  Watts's 
steam-engine  —  that  England  would  set  millions  of  spindles  whirling; 
that  no  end  of  cotton  would  be  wanted.  They  did  not  see  that  the  earth, 
turning  on  its  axis  from  west  to  east,  creating  a  current  at  the  equator, 
flowing  westward,  striking  against  the  coast  of  Brazil,  streaming  into  the 
Caribbean  Sea  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  heated  and  evaporated  by  the  sun, 
would  make  the  Gulf  a  steaming  caldron  ;  that  the  soft  south  winds, 
wafting  the  warm  vapor  inland,  would  make  the  whole  coast,  hundreds  of 
miles  inland — from  North  Carolina  to  Mexico — the  great  cotton-prod uc- 


284 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XIX. 


ing  area  of  the 
world  ;  that  there 
the  snow-white  fibre 
would  be  soft  as  silk, 
and  delicate  as  the  finest 
gossamer;  that,  in  conse- 
quence, Old  England  and  New 
England  would  become  hives  of  indus- 
try; that  millions  of  spindles  would 
be  whirling  and  myriads  of  shuttles 
flying  to  supply  the  world  with  cloth- 
ing; that  slavery,  instead  of  dying  out,  would  become  more  firmly  in- 
trenched—that it  would  become  a  mighty  political  and  social  force,  domi- 
nating one-half  of  the  States,  and  making  its  influence  felt  in  commerce, 


THE    RISING    POWER. 


1787-1840.] 


PREJUDICE   AGAINST   COLOR. 


285 


WWM. 

POOR    WHITE    PEOPLE    OP    THE    SOUTH. 


in  the  halls  of  legislation,  in  courts  of  justice,  in  churches,  and  every  walk 
of  life. 

Slavery  was  having  a  great  effect  upon  the  white  people  of  the  South- 
ern States — making  class  distinctions.  The  rich  were  growing  richer,  the 
poor  poorer.  Labor  was  a  sign  of  inferiority.  The  poor  white  people 
became  more  degraded.     They  were  called  "crackers,"  "clay-eaters,"  and 

other    opprobrious    names.      The    negroes 
S*  '  called  them   "poor  white    trash,"   because 

they  were  low  down,  living  in  miserable 
cabins,  with  no  ambition  to  better  their 
condition. 

In  ISIS  the  Presbyterian  Assembly  of 
the  United  States  passed  a  resolution  de- 
claring that  "  the  enslaving  of  one  part  of 
the  human  race  is  a  gross  violation  of  the 
most  sacred  rights  of  man,  inconsistent 
with  the  laws  of  God." 

Benjamin  Lundy,  of  a  mild,  benevo- 
lent spirit,   who   hated   injustice,   travelled 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 


286 


BUILDING  THE    NATION. 


[Chap.  XIX. 


through  the  country  with  a  set  of  types,  printing  and  distributing  a 
paper  which  lie  named  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation.  He 
established  his  paper  in  Baltimore  in  1829.  A  young  man  born  in  New- 
bury port,  Massachusetts  (William  Lloyd  Garrison),  helped  him  set  types. 
The  ship  Frances,  owned  in  Newburyport,  came  to  Baltimore,  took  a  cargo 

of  slaves,  and  sailed  for 
New  Orleans.  The  young 
printer  heard  the  weeping 
and  wailing  of  the  heart- 
broken men  and  women 
as  husbands,  wives,  and 
children  were  parted  for- 
ever. A  revelation  like  a 
flash  of  lightning  came  to 
him.  He  had  been  giv- 
ing addresses  in  behalf  of 
the  Colonization  Society; 
he  saw  that,  although  the 
open  traffic  in  slaves  with 
Africa  was  closed,  the  do- 
mestic trade  was  in  full 
vigor,  with  all  its  woe.  In 
the  next  number  of  the 
Genius  of  Universal 
Emancipation  there  was 
a  vigorous  article  denounc- 
ing the  domestic  slave- 
trade.  A  few  hours  later 
the  young  printer,  with 
the  sheriffs  hand  upon  his 
shoulder,  was  brought  into 
court,  where  a  jury  found 
him  guilty  of  inciting  the 
slaves  to  insurrection,  and  the  champion  of  right  was  marched  off  to  jail. 

Men  whose  souls  are  on  fire  with  a  great  resolve  laugh  at  bolts  and 
bars.     He  wrote  this  upon  the  walls  of  his  cell : 

"High  walls  and  huge  the  body  may  confine, 
And  iron  gates  obstruct  the  prisoner's  gaze; 
And  massive  bolts  may  baffle  his  designs, 
And  watchful  keepers  eye  his  devious  ways ; 


GARRISON  S    BIRTHPLACE. 


1787-1840]  PREJUDICE   AGAINST   COLOR.  287 

Yet  scorns  the  immortal  mind  this  base  control ! 

No  chain  can  bind  it,  and  no  cell  enclose. 
Swifter  than  light  it  flies  from  pole  to  pole, 

And  in  a  flash  from  earth  to  heaven  it  goes. 
It  leaps  from  mount  to  mount.     From  vale  to  vale 

It  wanders,  plucking  honeyed  fruits  and  flowers. 
It  visits  home  to  hear  the  fireside  tale, 

Or  in  sweet  converse  pass  the  joyous  hours. 
Tis  up  before  the  sun,  roaming  afar, 
And  in  its  watches  wearies  every  star." 

A  generous -hearted  man,  Arthur  Tappan,  of  New  York,  heard  that 
the  printer  was  in  prison,  paid  his  fine,  and  he  was  set  at  liberty. 

During  his  seven  weeks'  imprisonment  the  printer  made  a  discovery— 
that  the  prejudice  against  colored  people  was  far  greater  in  the  Northern 
than  in  the  Southern  States.  The  conviction  came  that  slavery  would 
never  die  of  itself;  that  emancipation  could  not  be  gradual,  but  must  be, 
whenever  it  came,  an  immediate  act — all  the  slaves  liberated  at  once.  He 
saw  that  the  Colonization  Society,  instead  of  helping  on  emancipation,  was 
really  riveting  the  manacles  upon  the  slaves  more  firmly.  By  removing 
the  free  negroes  the  slaves  would  be  made  more  contented.  He  saw  that 
slavery  was  degrading  the  poor  white  people  of  the  South ;  that  its  influ- 
ence for  evil  was  felt  everywhere  in  the  land.  A  great  resolve  took  pos- 
session of  him — to  wage  relentless,  uncompromising  war  against  the  in- 
stitution. What  could  he  do?  He  was  poor — without  a  dollar.  He  had 
no  friends.  Nobody  wanted  to  hear  anything  about  slavery.  He  would 
be  opposed.  Men  would  call  him  a  lunatic.  He  would  be  one  against 
the  whole  country.  But  justice,  right,  eternal  truth  would  be  on  his  side. 
One  with  God  is  more  than  all  the  world  beside.  He  could  set  types,  and 
types  would  carry  conviction. 

The  young  printer  went  to  Boston,  resolving  to  speak  in  the  meeting- 
houses on  the  sin  and  iniquity  of  holding  men  in  slavery;  but  no  meet- 
ing-house opened  its  doors  to  him.  There  were  no  slaves  in  Boston. 
Why  should  anybody  hear  what  an  obscure  young  man  who  set  types  for 
a  living  had  to  say  about  slavery? 

The  ministers  of  Boston  little  knew  how  resolute  he  was.  Speak  he 
would,  and,  if  he  could  not  have  access  to  a  meeting-house,  he  would  ob- 
tain a  hall.  There  was  one  on  Pearl  Street  where  ladies  and  gentlemen 
danced,  and  where  Mr.  Jul  lien  supplied  them  with  supper  from  his  res- 
taurant, getting  up  a  delicious  soup.  He  has  passed  away,  but  the  soup 
which  he  concocted  is  still  eaten  the  world  over.  An  infidel  society  held 
meetings  in  the  hall  on  Sundays;  sleight-of-hand  performers  pulled  ribbons 


2SS  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XIX. 

from  their  months,  fried  eggs  in  gentlemen's  hats,  made  ladies'  finger-rings 
mysteriously  go  and  come,  and  performed  other  wonderful  legerdemain 
upon  its  platform;  and  there,  on  the  evening  of  October  16,  1S30,  the 
printer  began  his  warfare  against  slavery. 

"He  is  a  prophet.  He  will  shake  the  nation  to  its  centre,"  said  the 
Rev.  Samuel  J.  May  to  Bronson  Alcott,  when  the  lecture  was  over. 

"  Come  to  my  house,  Mr.  Garrison,  and  we  will  talk  about  slavery,'1 
said  Mr.  Alcott. 

When  the  clock  struck  twelve  they  were  still  listening  to  what  he  had 
to  say,  and  were  enlisted  heart  and  soul  to  cany  on  what  he  had  begun. 

The  next  Sunday  Mr.  May  preached  a  sermon  against  slavery  in  the 
Unitarian  church  in  Summer  Street  —  the  first  preached  in  the  United 
States  under  the  new  crusade.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Young  was  pastor  of  the 
church,  and  was  greatly  displeased. 

"  I  never  will  ask  you  to  preach  again  in  my  church,"  he  said. 

''Such  a  sermon  is  incendiary  and  fanatical,"  said  the  rich  men  of  the 
congregation. 

The  printer  started  a  newspaper  —  the  Liberator  —  the  first  number 
making  its  appearance  January  1,  1831.  The  New  England  Antislavery 
Society  was  formed  the  following  week — Arnold  Buffman,  President. 

The  great  idea  was  getting  a  foothold. 

Some  of  the  colored  people  held  a  meeting  in  Philadelphia  to  see  what 
could  be  done  toward  establishing  a  school  for  themselves.  They  thought 
that  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  would  be  a  good  place  for  the  school.  Yale 
College  was  there,  and  Connecticut  had  done  a  great  deal  for  education. 
Great  the  excitement  in  New  Haven  over  the  proposition.  The  mayor 
called  a  meeting  of  the  citizens,  and  a  resolution  was  passed  declaring 
that  the  education  of  colored  people  was  an  unwarranted  and  dangerous 
interference  with  the  affairs  of  the  State,  and  could  not  be  allowed. 

There  were  learned  professors  in  Yale  College.  There  were  scholar- 
ships to  aid  those  too  poor  to  help  themselves  to  an  education.  Ministers 
preached  on  the  duties  and  obligations  of  men  to  help  their  fellow-men. 
Earnest  the  appeals  for  money  to  send  missionaries  to  the  heathen ; 
fervent  their  prayers  for  the  conversion  and  enlightenment  of  the  world. 
In  the  missionary  concert,  to  the  music  of  the  pealing  organ,  pastor,  presi- 
dent, professor,  and  people  sung  Bishop  Heber's  Missionary  Hymn  : 

"From  Greenland's  icy  mountains, 
From  India's  coral  strand ; 
Where  Afric's  sunny  fountains 
Roll  down  their  golden  sand; 


1787-1840.]       •  PREJUDICE  AGAINST  COLOE.  28(J 

From  many  an  ancient  river, 

From  many  a  palmy  plain, 
They  call  us  to  deliver 

Their  land  from  error's  chain." 

It  was  their  Christian  duty  to  educate  the  heathen  in  India ;  but  they 
could  not  think  of  permitting  a  negro  school  in  New  Haven  ! 

Miss  Prudence  Crandall  was  a  teacher,  and  at  the  request  of  the 
people  of  Canterbury,  Connecticut,  purchased  a  house  in  that  village  and 
opened  a  boarding-school  for  young  ladies.  A  colored  girl  (Sarah  Harris) 
became  a  pupil.  She  wished  to  acquire  an  education  that  she  might  teach 
colored  children. 

"  We  cannot  have  our  daughters  attend  school  with  a  nigerer,"  said  the 
parents  of  the  white  girls,  taking  them  out  of  school.  Miss  Crandall 
thereupon  opened  a  school  for  colored  girls.  The  selectmen  called  a  town 
meeting,  which  was  held  in  the  meeting-house.  The  moderator  stood  in 
the  deacons'  seat  and  read  a  series  of  resolutions  condemnatory  of  the 
school.  Andrew  I.  Judson,  who  was  a  candidate  for  Governor,  and  who 
afterward  became  a  judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court,  made  a 
speech,  saying  that  the  school  must  not  be  permitted  to  go  on.  The  reso- 
lutions were  passed.  The  store-keepers  would  not  sell  anything  to  Miss 
Crandall.  The  well  in  her  yard  was  filled  up  by  a  gang  of  ruffians.  The 
selectmen  called  upon  her.  "  Under  the  vagrant  law  of  the  State,"  they 
said,  "yon  must  pay  one  dollar  and  sixty  cents  a  week  for  every  pupil  not 
an  inhabitant  of  Canterbury ;  and  if  the  colored  girls  do  not  leave  town 
within  ten  days  they  will  each  be  tied  to  the  whipping-post  and  flogged." 
The  sheriff  seized  Eliza  Ann  Hammond,  from  Providence ;  but  the  Rev.  Mr.. 
May,  the  first  minister  to  enlist  with  Mr.  Garrison  in  Boston,  was  preach- 
ing in  the  next  town,  and  gave  his  bond  for  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  the 
sheriff  did  not  flog  her.  The  selectmen  did  not  really  want  her  whipped; 
they  had  a  suspicion  that  it  would  not  read  well  in  history.  Besides,  they 
had  another  plan.  They  went  to  the  Legislature  and  obtained  the  enact- 
ment of  a  law  prohibiting  the  teaching  of  a  school  for  colored  children  liy 
anybody  without  first  obtaining  the  consent  in  writing  of  a  majority  of 
the  people  and  the  selectmen  of  a  town. 

Church  bells  rung,  and  there  was  a  firing  of  cannon  when  the  news 
came  that  the  Governor  had  signed  the  bill  and  it  was  a  law  of  the  State. 
The  sheriff  put  Miss  Crandall  in  jail— into  a  cell  from  which  a  man  had' 
just  been  taken  and  executed  for  murdering  his  wife.  Her  friends  prom- 
ised that  she  would  be  in  court  at  the  time  fixed  for  her  trial,  and  she  was 
released.     She  went  back  to  her  school,  but  her  old  acquaintances  would 

19 


290  BUILDING   THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XIX. 

not  speak  to  her.  Her  neighbors  would  not  let  her  draw  a  cup  of  water 
from  their  wells.     The  doctor  refused  her  medicine. 

"You  must  not  enter  the  meeting-house  with  your  niggers,''  said  one 
of  the  deacons. 

In  the  court-house,  within  a  stone's-throw  of  the  old  home  of  Gen- 
eral Putnam,  who,  when  the  news  came  of  what  was  taking  place  at 
Lexington  and  Concord  in  1775,  left  his  plough  in  the  furrow  and 
started  for  Boston  (see  "  Boys  of  '76"),  Miss  Crandall  stood  up  before 
judge  and  jury  to  be  tried  for  the  crime  of  teaching  colored  girls  how  to 
read  and  write.  The  lawyers  said  that  the  law  was  unconstitutional.  Mr. 
Judson,  who  made  the  speech  in  town-meeting  against  Miss  Crandall, 
said  it  was  not.  The  jury  disagreed.  Miss  Crandall  went  back  to  school. 
Her  house  was  set  on  tire;  but  she  threw  on  water  and  extinguished  it. 
Then  a  mob  came  at  night,  with  axes  and  crow-bars,  hurled  stones  through 
the  windows,  and  beat  down  the  doors.  She  could  live  there  no  longer, 
and  the  scholars  went  to  their  homes.  Prejudice  had  triumphed.  But  it 
does  not  read  well  in  history. 

Were  the  people  of  Canterbury  more  prejudiced  than  the  people  of 
other  towns?  Not  at  all;  the  dislike  was  universal.  In  Canaan,  New 
Hampshire,  was  an  academy  where  a  negro  boy  was  endeavoring  to  obtain 
an  education,  which  so  incensed  the  people  that  the  farmers  of  the  town 
came  with  their  cattle — fifty  yoke  of  oxen — and  drew  the  building  into 
a  pasture,  breaking  up  the  school.  It  was  a  wicked  and  cruel  prejudice, 
born  of  slavery — which  only  the  march  of  events  inaugurated  by  the 
young  printer  could  change. 


1835.]  TEXAS.  291 


CHAPTER  XX. 

TEXAS. 

rIX)  get  at  the  history  of  Texas  we  must  go  back  to  the  wonderful  man, 
-*-  Robert  Cavelier  de  La  Salle,  who  launched  the  first  vessel  that  ever 
floated  on  the  lakes  of  the  North  west;  who,  just  two  hundred  years  ago, 
descended  the  Mississippi  River,  and  on  a  dry  spot  of  land  at  its  month 
set  up  a  cross,  and  buried  a  leaden  plate  with  this  inscription  :  "  Louis,  the 
great  King  of  France  and  Navarre.  April  9, 1682."  He  took  possession 
for  France  of  all  the  country  drained  by  the  Mississippi.  He  went  up  the 
river  the  next  year,  reached  Quebec,  and  sailed  to  France.  On  the  first 
day  of  August,  1684,  four  ships,  with  two  hundred  and  eighty  men,  sailed 
from  France  to  make  a  settlement  in  Louisiana.  The  vessels  touched  at 
St.  Domingo,  and  passed  on  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  King  had  ap- 
pointed La  Salle  governor  of  the  settlement  which  he  intended  to  make 
on  the  banks  of  the  great  river,  but  which  he  did  not  do,  because  the 
man  who  had  been  selected  to  navigate  the  ships  made  a  mistake  in  his 
calculations  and  found  himself  at  Matagorda  Bay.  He  had  sailed  past 
the  Mississippi.  Instead  of  returning  eastward  to  the  great  river,  La 
Salle  landed,  built  Fort  St.  Louis,  and  made  the  first  settlement  in  Texas. 
The  great  explorer  was  murdered  in  1688,  while  trying  to  make  his  way 
to  Illinois.  The  Spaniards  in  Mexico,  not  wanting  a  colony  of  French- 
men so  near  them,  came  and  took  the  fort,  thus  getting  possession  of 
the  country. 

From  the  time  of  Cortez  to  1821  Mexico  had  been  under  the  dominion 
of  Spain;  but,  influenced  by  the  example  of  the  United  States,  and  by 
what  was  going  on  in  South  America,  the  Mexicans,  under  the  lead  of 
General  Iturbide,  revolted  from  Spain.  Iturbide  made  himself  Emperor, 
but  was  overthrown  and  banished,  and  a  constitution  was  adopted  mod- 
elled on  that  of  the  United  States. 

When  the  Spaniards  conquered  Mexico  they  enslaved  the  Indians, 
treating  them  with  great  cruelty.  When  the  Indians  died  they  stole 
negroes  from  Africa  to  work  the  mines  and  the  sugar-plantations;  but 


292  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XX. 

the  Mexicans,  having  made  themselves  independent — wiser  in  one  thing 
than  the  people  of  the  United  States — -inserted  a  clause  in  their  constitu- 
tion that  any  child  born  after  its  adoption  should  be  forever  free.  This, 
however,  did  not  suit  the  people :  they  wanted  immediate  freedom  for 
everybody ;  and,  in  1829,  they  set  all  the  slaves  free,  and  declared  that 
there  never  again  should  be  a  slave  in  Mexico. 

Texas  was  a  part  of  Mexico — a  beautiful  country  of  woodlands,  far- 
reaching  prairies,  pastures,  cotton-fields,  noble  rivers,  a  fertile  soil,  adapted 
by  nature  to  be  the  home  of  myriads  of  the  human  race.  After  the  war 
with  England  was  over  the  energetic  traders  of  St.  Louis  and  Natchez 
began  to  send  trains  of  wagons  and  pack -mules  to  Texas,  opening  trade 
with  the  Mexicans,  who  had  great  ranches  with  herds  of  cattle  and  horses. 
The  traders  saw  what  a  beautiful  country  it  was,  and  one  adventurer, 
James  Long,  in  1819,  with  seventy-five  other  restless  men,  went  there, 
and  issued  a  proclamation,  styling  himself  President  of  the  Council  of 
Texas,  but  was  killed,  and  his  fellow-adventurers  scattered. 

1  We  come  upon  two  other  men  whose  names  are  inseparably  connected 
with  the  history  of  Texas — Moses  Austin  and  Stephen  Fuller  Austin — 
father  aud  son.  Moses  Austin  was  born  in  the  town  of  Durham,  Con- 
necticut. In  his  boyhood  none  of  his  playmates  were  more  energetic 
than  he.  Durham  was  too  small  for  him,  and  he  went  to  Philadelphia, 
where  his  brother  Stephen  had  a  store,  and  was  importing  goods  from 
England.  He  fell  in  love  with  a  young  girl  and  was  married  before  he 
was  twenty.  He  went  to  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  opened  a  store.  He 
bought  the  lead-mine  on  New  River,  Wythe  County,  moved  there,  and 
sent  over  to  England  for  workmen,  made  shot  and  rolled  out  sheet-lead. 
His  money  gave  out,  and  in  1796  the  sheriff  took  possession  of  his  works. 

He  heard  that  there  were  lead-mines  in  the  far  West  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi, in  Upper  Louisiana,  owned  by  France.  Across  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  down  the  Kanawha  River  and  the  Ohio,  and  up  the  Missis- 
sippi, he  travelled,  with  his  wife,  in  1799,  and  settled  at  Potosi,  Wash- 
ington County,  Missouri. 

Twenty  years  go  by.  Louisiana  has  been  purchased.  Moses  Austin 
hears  of  the  wonderful  richness  of  the  lands  in  Texas  owned  by  Spain. 
Why  not  go  there  ?  Why  not  stay  where  he  is  ?  His  is  a  tireless  spirit. 
His  energy  will  not  let  him  rest  where  he  is.  South-west,  across  Arkan- 
sas, swimming  rivers,  through  forests,  over  nine  hundred  miles,  he  makes 
his  way  to  Bexar,  in  Texas. 

One  day  in  December  he  enters  the  little  Spanish  town,  the  capital 
of  Texas,  and  calls  upon  the  governor. 


1835.] 


TEXAS. 


293 


"  I  have  come  to  see  if  Americans  will  be  allowed  to  settle  in  Texas," 
he  said. 

"  Let  me  see  your  passport,"  said  the  governor. 

"  I  have  none." 

"You  have  no  right  here.     You  will  leave  instantly,  and  get  out  of 
the  country  as  soon  as  yon  can." 

Who  can   tell  how  it  happened  that  Baron  Bastrop,  of  Prussia,  who 
had  been  in  the  United  States,  should  happen  to  be  walking  across  the 
square  in  Bexar  as  Moses  Austin  came  from  the  governor's  house;  that 
on  their  meeting  should  hinge 
the  history  of  one  of  the  great 
States  of  the  Republic? 

"  I  will  see  the  governor," 
said  the  baron. 

"Mr.  Austin  became  a  sub- 
ject of  Spain  in  1799 — before 
it  was  re-ceded  to  France. 
He  has  a  right  to  be  here,"  he 
said  to  the  governor. 

"A  Spanish  subject!  That 
alters  the  case." 

Once  more  Mr.  Austin  ap- 
peared before  the  governor. 
He  asked  permission  to  settle 
three  hundred  families.  The 
governor  acceded  to  the  plan, 
and  Mr.  Austin  started  for 
St.  Louis.  It  was  in  January. 
He  was  obliged  to  swim  riv- 
ers ;  he  had  little  to  eat ;  he 
took  cold,  grew  weaker  day 
by  day,  reached  home  only  to 

die.  But  the  son,  energetic  as  the  father,  resolved  to  go  on  with  the  plan. 
On  July  5,  1821,  with  seventeen  men,  he  started  for  Bexar,  explored  a 
vast  region  of  country,  saw  how  beautiful  it  was,  and  began  a  settlement, 
which  received  the  name  of  Austin,  now  the  capital  of  the  State.  He 
went  to  Mexico  to  obtain  grants  of  land  from  the  government,  where  he 
had  to  wait  a  year. 

The  people  of  the  Southern  States  began  to  go  there.     After  the  dis- 
cussion in  Congress,  whether  Missouri  should  be  a  free  or  slave  State,  the 


TEXAS    AS    CLAIMED    BY    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


294:  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XX. 

far-seeing  men  of  the  South  turned  their  eyes  toward  Texas.  They  saw 
that  from  the  territory  acquired  by  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  only  two 
more  slave  States  could  be  organized,  and  that  in  a  few  years  the  slave- 
holding  States  would  lose  their  political  power  in  Congress  and  in  the 
affairs  of  government. 

"  If  Texas  could  be  obtained,"  said  Judge  Upsher  of  Virginia,  "  it  would 
raise  the  price  of  slaves,  and  be  of  great  advantage  to  the  slave-holders." 

"  It  would  raise  the  price  of  slaves  fifty  per  cent.,"  said  Mr.  Gholson, 
of  the  same  State. 

"  Texas  will  make  five  or  six  slave  States,"  wrote  Thomas  II.  Benton  of 
St.  Louis. 

Companies  were  formed  to  promote  emigration.  One  in  New  Orleans 
was  called  the  "Galveston  Bay  and  Texas  Company;"  one  in  St.  Louis, 
the  "Arkansas  and  Texas  Company."  By  1S33  nearly  twenty  thousand 
Americans  had  left  the  United  States  to  become  Texans. 

They  had  trouble  with  the  Mexicans.  They  found  it  difficult  to  obtain 
titles  to  their  lands.  The  constitution  adopted  in  Mexico  had  been  over- 
thrown by  Iturbide,  who  wanted  to  be  an  autocrat;  but  three  generals 
of  the  army — Victoria,  Bravo,  and  Santa  Anna — overthrew  him,  and  he 
was  banished. 

Then  came  other  revolutions.  The  Mexican  people  wTere  ignorant. 
The  priests  had  great  power  over  them.  A  government  of  the  people  to 
be  enduring  must  have  schools;  the  people  must  be  intelligent,  and  able 
to  think  and  act  for  themselves.  When  the  generals  of  the  Mexican  army 
wanted  money  they  made  forced  loans,  which  was  one  way  of  plundering 
the  people,  for  the  loans  never  were  repaid.  There  was  so  little  law  and 
order  and  justice  under  the  Mexican  government  that  the  Americans  who 
had  emigrated  to  Texas  declared  themselves  independent  of  Mexico,  and 
adopted  a  constitution.  Many  of  them  held  slaves,  and  they  adopted  an 
article  which  made  slave -holding  constitutional.  They  elected  Henry 
Smith,  who  had  emigrated  from  Kentucky,  governor;  and  Sam  Houston, 
who  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  who  had  been  Governor  of  Tennessee,  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  arm}r.  Fighting  began.  General  Cos,  with  four- 
teen hundred  Mexicans,  was  besieged  in  San  x\ntonio  by  eight  hundred 
Texans,  and  compelled  to  surrender.  Santa  Anna,  who  was  at  the  head 
of  affairs  in  Mexico,  came  with  four  thousand  men  to  bring  the  Texans 
once  more  under  his  authority. 

The  news  that  the  Texans  were  fighting  for  independence  stirred  the 
people  of  the  Western  and  Southern  States;  and  men  who  loved  advent- 
ure, who  were  thrilled  with  the  thought  of  securing  the  same  independence 


1835.] 


TEXAS. 


295 


for  Texas  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  had  won  from  Great  Brit- 
ain, hastened  with  their  rifles  to  take  part  in  the  struggle.     Among  them 


was  David  Crockett,  member  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  from 
Tennessee,  who  could  pick  off  with  his  rifle  the  end  of  a  squirrel's  nose  on 
the  highest  tree.     He  had  killed  so  many  raccoons  that  the  hunters  used 


296  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XX. 

to  say  that  the  coons  in  the  woods  knew  him  ;  that  one  day,  just  as  he  was 
going  to  shoot  a  coon,  he  heard  a  voice  asking, 
"Is  your  name  David  Crockett?" 
"Yes." 

"  Then  don't  shoot.  I'm  a  gone  coon.  I'll  come  right  down  !" 
Across  the  country  to  Nacogdoches,  and  from  there  westward  to  San 
Antonio,  rode  this  fearless  hunter  of  Tennessee  to  take  part  in  the  struggle. 
The  people  of  New  Orleans  held  a  meeting,  contributed  money,  pur- 
chased guns  and  uniforms  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  men.  The  people 
of  Cincinnati  sent  two  cannon,  which  were  labelled  the  "  Twin  Sisters." 
Down  the  Mississippi,  on  steamboats  to  Natchez,  and  thence  across  the 
country  to  Texas,  streamed  the  adventurous  spirits  to  aid  in  achieving  the 

independence  of  the 
people  who  had  flung 
to  the  breeze  a  flag 
with  a  single  star — the 
flag  of  the  "Lone  Star 
State."  They  rode  fleet 
horses,  and  Avere  or- 
ganized into  compa- 
nies of  Rangers. 

In  February,  1S35, 
Santa  Anna,  President 
and  Dictator  of  Mex- 
ico, reached  San  Anto- 
nio. There  were  only 
one  hundred  and  eigh- 
ty-eight Texans  there ; 
but  though  Santa  Anna 
had  four  thousand, 
Colonel  Travis  deter- 
mined to  hold  the  place 
till  General  Houston  came  to  his  aid.  He  put  his  men  into  the  little  old 
church  and  mission  building,  just  out  of  the  town,  where  for  more  than 
one  hundred  years  the  Jesuit  priests  had  chanted  their  prayers  and  counted 
their  beads.  They  called  it  the  Alamo.  The  walls  were  of  stone,  thick 
and  strong. 

Santa  Anna  sent  a  demand  for  the  Texans  to  surrender,  and  they  fired 
a  cannon-shot  into  his  lines  as  their  reply.  Day  after  day  the  Mexican 
cannon  battered  the  Avails,  but  with  little  effect. 


SANTA    ANNA. 


1835.] 


TEXAS. 


297 


Sunday  morning,  March  7, 1S35,  dawned,  and  the  Mexicans,  with  scal- 
ing-ladders, made  a  rush  upon  the  Alamo.  Every  loop-hole  flamed,  and  the 
Mexicans  were  compelled  to  retreat.  A  second  time  they  advanced,  and 
again  were  driven  back.  A  third  time  they  come  to  the  walls,  place  lad- 
ders against  them,  and  climb  to  the  top.  Scores  go  down,  but  others  take 
their  places.  Swarming  on  the  wall,  they  fire  down  upon  the  Texans  and 
leap  to  the  ground.  Now  comes  the  hand-to-hand  struggle — a  clubbing  of 
guns,  pistol-shots,  the  clash  of  swords,  the  gleaming  of  knives — oaths,  yells, 
and  curses,  clinching  of  teeth,  splitting  of  skulls.  Colonel  Travis  falls. 
David  Crockett  goes  down.     One  by  one  the  Texans  drop. 


THE    ALAMO. 


The  sun  is  climbing  the  eastern  sky.  Its  beams  fall  upon  the  grass 
still  wet  with  dew.  The  battle  is  over — all  is  still.  Within  the  Alamo — 
an  enclosure  one  hundred  and  twenty  b}T  one  hundred  and  ninety  feet — 
upon  the  stone  floor,  where  priests  and  penitents  for  a  century  have  knelt 
in  prayer,  lie  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  Texans — every  man  who  was 
in  the  enclosure  at  the  beginning  of  the  battle — and  five  hundred  and 
twenty  Mexicans: — all  dead,  besides  as  many  men  wounded — the  ghastliest 
spectacle  ever  beheld  in  North  America  !  In  all  sixteen  hundred  Mexi- 
cans were  killed  and  wounded. 

Colonel  Fanning  and  four  hundred  and  forty-five  Texans  were  taken 
prisoners  at  Goliad  by  Santa  Anna.  lie  promised  to  treat  them  kindly, 
but,  in  violation  of  his  solemn  pledge,  ordered  them  to  be  put  to  death. 
Twenty-seven  escaped,  the  others  were  murdered. 

There  was  terror  in  Texas.     Eastward  alomr  the  roads  streamed  the 


298 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XX. 


SAMUEL    HOUSTON. 


flying  settlers.  Eastward  marched  the  seven  hundred  and  eighty  men 
under  General  Houston,  who  had  a  plan  which  he  intended  to  execute. 
The  Mexicans  would  follow,  and  at  the  right  place  and  the  right  time  he 
would  give  them  battle. 

Santa  Anna,  elated   by   what   had    been    done,  eager   to   capture   the 

Texans,  followed  in  swift  pursuit.  To 
travel  faster  he  divided  his  army,  little 
forecasting  how  disastrous  it  might  be. 

Eastward  for  two  days  and  a  half, 
scarcely  resting,  retreated  the  Texans,  halt- 
ing on  the  afternoon  of  April  20th  on  the 
shore  of  San  Jacinto  Bay,  where  the  Buf- 
falo bayou  joins  its  sluggish  waters  with 
the  sea.  He  had  the  two  cannon  which 
the  citizens  of  Cincinnati  sent  him — the 
"Twin  Sisters." 

On  by  another  road  came  the  Mexi- 
cans, crossing  the  Buffalo  at  Vince's  Bridge, 
forming  in  line  of  battle  as  the  sun  went 
down,  ready  to  fall  upon  the  Texans  with  its  rising  on  the  morrow.  There 
was  a  little  skirmishing  in  the  evening,  but  Texans  and  Mexicans  alike 
were  too  tired  with  the  swift  marching  to  go  into  battle.  Thirty  men 
on  horses  were  General  Houston's  scouts.  Early  in  the  morning  they 
wTere  in  their  saddles. 

"  Boys,"  said  John  Cokes,  "  we  are  going  to  have  a  bloody  battle,  and 
I  think  it  would  be  a  good  plan  to  burn  Vince's  Bridge,  and  cut  off  the 
retreat  of  the  Mexicans." 

"  That's  so— we  will  do  it !"  shouted  the  other  scouts. 
"I'll  see   what  the   general  says  about  it,"  said  their   captain,  Deaf 
Smith. 

"  Do  you  think  you  can  do  it  without  being  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Mexi- 
can cavalry  ?"  Houston  asked. 

"Give  me  six  men,  and  I'll  do  it  or  die." 
"  Do  it." 

The  six  fearless  men  make  their  way  past  the  Mexicans,  gain  their 
rear,  reach  the  bridge,  and  set  it  on  fire.  It  was  a  little  thing  in  itself 
that  they  had  done,  but  of  great  moment  in  connection  with  what  fol- 
lowed. 

Along  the  low  lands,  by  the  groves  of  live  oak  fringing  the  marshes 
of  the  bav,  Santa  Anna  formed  his  line,  with  his  cannon  in  the  centre. 


1835.] 


TEXAS. 


299 


Along  the  southern  bank  of  the  Buffalo  bayou,  with  a  cannon  on  each 
wing,  General  Houston  formed  his  little  army.  Between  the  two  armies 
were  islands  of  timber,  two  beautiful  green  groves  dotting  the  prairies. 
Breakfast  is  eaten.  Westward  rises  a  column  of  smoke  from  the  burn- 
ing bridge. 

The  Texans  have  not  halted  to  be  attacked  but  to  attack.  Forward 
to  the  islands  of  timber  moves  the  line,  the  two  cannon  opening  fire; 
the  cavalry  on  the  right  swinging  out  in  advance.  The  Mexicans  are 
astonished.  They  came  to  attack,  not  expecting  the  Texans  would  dare 
to  confront  them.  Steady  the  march.  They  reach  the  green  islands, 
pass  them.  The  "Twin  Sisters"  open  their  brazen  lips,  pouring  canister 
into  the  Mexican  line,  only  six  hundred  feet  distant. 

The  Mexicans  open  fire,  but  there  is  no  faltering  in  the  Texan  ranks. 
There  is  a  clicking  of  gun-locks,  a  flashing  of  rifles  fired  with  deadly  aim. 

"Remember  the  Alamo!"  The  shout  rings  out  as  the  Texans  rush 
upon  the  Mexicans,  beating  them  down  with  the  butts  of  their  guns.  The 
Mexican  line  breaks,  and  a  panic  seizes  the  soldiers.  Over  the  prairies 
they  flee,  followed  by  the  Texans.  Fifteen  minutes,  and  the  battle  is  over 
— six  hundred  and  thirty  Mexicans  killed,  seven  hundred  and  thirty  taken 
prisoners.      Among  the  spoils  are  twelve  thousand  dollars  in  money. 

Among  the  captured  was  Santa  Anna,  President  of  Mexico,  who  was 
discovered  by  a  soldier  cowering  in  the  tall  grass,  with  his  blanket  over 
his  head. 

General  Houston  had  been  wound- 
ed, and  was  lying  on  a  mattress  when 
Santa  Anna  was  brought  before  him. 

"  I  am  General  Antonio  Lopez  de 
Santa  Anna — a  prisoner  of  war  at  your 
disposal." 

"  Will  you  please  sit  down  on  that 
camp  chest?" 

"  I  would  like  a  piece  of  opium,  if 
you  have  any,  and  would  like  to  pur- 
chase my  freedom." 

"  That  is  for  the  Government  of 
Texas  to  decide  upon." 

"  You  can  afford  to  be  generous.  You  have  conquered  the  Napoleon 
of  the  West." 

"  You  showed  no  mercy  at  the  Alamo ;  how  can  you  expect  mercy 
now  3" 


BATTLE    OF    SAN    JACINTO. 


300  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XX. 

"  By  the  rules  of  war,  when  a  fort  refuses  to  surrender  and  is  taken 
the  prisoners'  are  doomed  to  death." 

"  Such  warfare  is  a  disgrace  to  civilization.  By  what  role  do  you 
justify  the  massacre  at  Goliad?" 

"I  had  orders  from  government  to  execute  all  taken  with  arms  in  their 
hands." 

"You  are  the  government;  you  are  Dictator  of  Mexico,  and  have  no 
superior;  yon  must  write  an  order  directing  all  the  Mexican  troops  now 
in  Texas  to  leave  it,"  said  General  Houston. 

The  order  was  written  and  executed,  and  thus  came  about  the  inde- 
pendence of  Texas — the  revolution  inaugurated  and  accomplished  by  emi- 
grants from  the  United  States. 


1837.] 


WAR   WITH  THE   SEMINOLE   INDIANS. 


301 


CHAPTER  XXL 


WAR   WITH   THE   SEMINOLE   INDIANS. 

TN  the  everglades  of  Florida,  where  the  live  oaks  were  hung  with  trail- 
-1-  ing  festoons  of  moss,  the  Seminole  Indians  had  their  home.  Negroes 
from  Georgia,  fleeing  from  their  unrequited  toil  and  brutal  masters,  made 
their  way  to  the  wigwam  of  the  Seminoles — so  far  away  amid  the  solitudes 
that  the  blood -hound  could  not  track  or  the  master  ever  regain  them. 
So  many  negroes  escaped  that  the  slave-holders  of  the  Southern  States 
petitioned  the  government  to  remove  the  Seminoles  beyond  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  Indians  did  not  want  to  go.  Florida  was  their  home.  Had 
they  not  a  right  to  remain  there  ?  "What  right  had  the  government  to  re- 
move them  ?  Some  of  the  chiefs  agreed  to  go,  but  Osceola,  the  most  pow- 
erful of  all,  and  most  of  the  Indians,  refused  to 
leave  their  old  homes  and  hunting-grounds. 

The  Secretary  of  War  sent  General  Thomson 
with  troops  to  compel  them  to  go,  and  war  began. 
Osceola  was  wily.  General  Clinch  was  at  Fort 
Drane,  which  Osceola  was  intending  to  capture. 
Major  Dade,  with  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
men,  was  sent  from  Tampa  Bay  to  re-enforce  him. 
Osceola  watched  his  opportunity,  fell  upon  Dade, 
and  massacred  all  but  four  of  the  soldiers,  who 
managed  to  escape  and  tell  the  woful  tale.  Os- 
ceola stole  upon  General  Thomson  and  five  of  his  friends  while  they  were 
at  dinner  and  killed  them. 

Through  183G  the  war  went  on,  the  soldiers  following  the  trails  of 
Indians  through  the  terrible  swamps,  rarely  overtaking  them ;  the  In- 
dians, on  the  other  hand,  watching  their  opportunity  to  fall  upon  the 
soldiers. 

Some  of  the  chiefs,  tired  of  the  war,  agreed  to  go  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, but  Osceola  still  fought  on.  In  October,  1837,  he  appeared 
before  General  Jesup  with  a  white  flag  asking  for  a  truce,  and  General 


SCENE    OF    THE    SEMINOLE    WAR. 


302 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XXI. 


Jesnp  treacherously  held  him  prisoner,  sending  hira  to  Fort  Moultrie, 
Charleston,  where  he  died  of  fever  and  a  broken  heart.  His  arrest  and 
imprisonment  will  remain  forever  a  blot  upon  the  honor  of  the  country. 

Osceola  was  dead,  but  the  Seminoles  still  resisted.  Thousands  of  sol- 
diers perished  of  fever  in  the  swamps.  There  were  nine  thousand  sol- 
diers hunting  them  down.  The  Indians  suffered  a  severe  defeat  in  a 
battle  fought  by  General  Zachary  Taylor  near  Lake  Macaco ;  but  not  till 
1839,  after  a  war  of  seven  years,  costing  $40,000,000,  were  they  finally 
subdued  and  removed  to  the  Indian  Territory. 


On  March  4,  1837,  Martin  Van  Bnren,  of  Kinderhook,  New  York,  be- 
came President.  The  country,  seemingly,  was  very  prosperous.  The  Erie 
Canal  had  opened  a  new  highway  to  the  West ;  and  the  people  of  New 
England  and  New  York  were  selling  their  farms  and  moving  to  Indiana, 

Michigan,  and  Illinois.  People  in  North 
Carolina  and  Virginia  who  did  not  like 
slavery  were  packing  their  goods  in  wag- 
ons and  making  their  way  over  the  moun- 
tains, to  rear  their  houses  in  the  free  States 
beyond  the  Ohio.  People  from  Europe 
were  hastening  across  the  sea  —  eighty 
thousand  arriving  in  1837,  most  of  them 
from  Ireland — to  wield  the  pick  and  spade 
in  the  building  of  railroads ;  the  twenty- 
three  miles  of  1S30  becoming  fourteen 
hundred  and  ninety-seven  miles  in  1S37. 

It  cost  $40,000,000— a  great  deal  of 
money  for  those  days — to  build  that  num- 
ber of  miles.  Other  millions  were  re- 
quired to  build  the  great  factories  of  Lowell,  Pawtucket,  and  other  places 
in  New  England.  The  employment  of  so  much  money,  the  movement  of 
so  many  people,  brought  about  much  buying  and  selling  of  houses  and 
lands,  which  began  to  rise  in  value.  Men  and  women  were  getting  more 
money  for  their  labor.  Girls  who  had  been  doing  housework  in  the  coun- 
try farm-houses,  earning  fifty  cents  a  week,  were  now  receiving  from  two 
to  three  dollars  a  week  in  the  factory.  Men  who  had  been  earning  eight 
or  nine  dollars  a  week  were  obtaining  from  twelve  to  fifteen  dollars. 

Buffalo,  Pittsburg,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  and  Cincinnati  were  gaining 
very  fast.  Speculators  laid  out  towns  and  cities  all  over  the  West.  Land 
which  had  cost  them  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  an  acre  was  divided 


MARTIN    VAN    BUREX. 


1839.] 


WAR   WITH  THE   SEMINOLE   INDIANS. 


303 


into  honse-lots  and  sold  for  five  hundred  or  one  thousand  dollars  an  acre — 
people  for  the  most  part  giving  their  notes  for  payment.  The  banks  were 
issuing  a  great  many  notes,  which  passed  for  money ;  but  they  were  only 
promises  to  pay.  Many  people  in  the  Eastern  States,  hearing  of  the  fer- 
tility of  the  land  in  Illinois,  gave  notes  to  the  banks  and  bought  lands  in 
the  far  West,  expecting  to  get  rich  by  the  rise  in  value.  A  fever  for  spec- 
ulation set  in.  Everybody  was  trading  —  paying  very  little  money,  but 
giving  promises  to  pay.  Multitudes,  instead  of  working,  began  to  specu- 
late, creating  fictitious  values,  issuing  more  promises  to  pay,  adding  noth- 
ing to  real  accumulations,  but  mortgaging  prospective  earnings.  They 
bought  and  sold — scattered  that  which  they  called  money  issued  by  the 
bankers,  not  knowing  that  everything  in  the  universe  is  under  the  domain 
of  law,  and  that  sooner  or  later  the  laws  which  govern  progress,  which  are 
powerful  to  build  up,  are  equally  powerful  to  destroy.  They  did  not  com- 
prehend that  industry  is  at  the  base  of  all  material  wealth. 

When  the  men  who  had  given  their  notes  could  not  obtain  money  to 
pay  them  the  crash  came.  Speculators,  merchants,  farmers,  manufactur- 
ers, bankers — all  failed.  Men  who  thought  themselves  rich  found  that 
they  were  poor — their  property  in  the  hands  of  the  sheriff.  There  was 
distress  everywhere — so  great  that  the  President  called  an  extra  session 
of  Congress  to  adopt  some  measure  for  the  relief  of  the  people. 

The  government  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Democratic  party,  which  had 
had  a  long  lease  of  power.  The  Federal  party 
had  disappeared — the  "Whig"  party  taking 
its  place.  The  name  came  from  Scotland, 
from  the  old  Covenanters,  who,  when  they  met 
on  Suiida\r  in  out-of-the-way  places  to  escape 
the  fury  of  the  soldiers  who  were  hunting  them 
down,  because  they  would  not  worship  as  the 
King  determined  they  should,  quenched  their 
thirst  with  whiygam,  or  whey.  When  Charles 
II.  came  to  the  throne,  the  gay,  frivolous,  and 
wicked  courtiers  around  him  ridiculed  the 
sober-minded  men  who  opposed  him,  calling 
them  "  whey  -  drinkers,"  or  "  whigs."  So  in 
England  it  became  the  name  of  a  political 
party  opposed  to  the  Tories,  and  was  adopted 
in  the  United  States  by  those  opposed  to  the  dominant  Democratic  party. 

Congress  did  not  pass  any  law  at  the  extra  session  to  relieve  the  people, 
and  there  was  great  dissatisfaction. 


JOHN    TYLER. 


30-i  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXI. 

In  1840  the  Democrats  re-nominated  Martin  Van  Buren  for  President. 
The  Whigs  selected  General  William  Henry  Harrison,  of  Ohio,  as  their 
candidate,  and  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  for  Vice-President.  The  Whigs 
called  General-  Harrison  "  Old  Tippecanoe,"  remembering  what  he  had 
done  in  the  war  with  England  in  1812.  The  political  speakers  pictured 
him  as  living  in  a  log  cabin  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  wearing  a  coon-skin 
coat  and  cap,  living  on  corn-bread,  and  drinking  hard  cider.  There  were 
great  political  meetings,  processions,  banners,  log  cabins,  speeches,  singing 
of  songs  by  young  men  and  boys.  One  was  called  the  Tippecanoe  song. 
Thus  it  ran : 

"  Oh  what  has  caused  this  great  commotion 
Our  country  through  ? 
It  is  the  ball  now  rolling  on 
For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too ; 
For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too." 

General  Harrison  was  elected  by  a  great  majority;  but  he  lived  only  a 
short  time,  and  John  Tyler  became  President.  m 


1832.]  BEGINNING  OF  A  GREAT  MOVEMENT.  305 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

BEGINNING   OF  A   GREAT   MOVEMENT. 

rTMIE  seed-corn  planted  by  the  young  printer  was  taking  root.  The 
J-  Liberator  published  by  him  was  making  its  way  over  the  country. 
Some  copies  went  South.  When  the  slave-holders  discovered  them  they 
were  very  angry.  The  postmasters  were  on  the  alert  to  destroy  any  copy 
they  might  find — violating  the  law  which  prohibited  any  one  from  med- 
dling with  the  mails.  Other  antislavery  newspapers  were  established  : 
the  Emancipator^  in  New  York;  the  Herald,  of  Freedom,  at  Concord, 
New  Hampshire.  The  American  Antislavery  Society  was  formed.  In 
many  towns  and  cities  of  the  Northern  States  auxiliary  societies  were  or- 
ganized to  bring  about  the  freedom  of  the  slave  in  a  peaceful  way.  Eng- 
land was  abolishing  slavery  in  the  West  Indies — why  should  it  not  be  abol- 
ished in  the  United  States  ?  The  Colonization  Society  opposed  the  move- 
ment. 

"This  society  is  in  nowise  allied  to  any  abolition  society  in  America 
or  elsewhere,  and  is  ready  to  pass  censure  upon  such  societies,"  was  the 
vote  passed  by  that  society. 

That  stirred  the  blood  of  Mr.  Garrison,  who  went  to  England  to  in- 
form the  philanthropists  of  that  country  of  the  attitude  of  the  coloniza- 
tionists.  William  Wilberforce,  Thomas  Fowell  Buxton,  Samuel  Gurney, 
of  England,  and  Daniel  0'Connell,of  Ireland,  sent  out  their  protest  against 
the  Colonization  Society.     They  said  : 

"Its  pretexts  are  a  delusion.  It  takes  its  roots  from  a  cruel  prejudice 
against  colored  people.  It  fosters  caste,  widens  the  breach  between  the 
two  races,  exposes  the  colored  people  to  persecution  in  order  to  force  them 
to  emigrate.  It  is  a  scheme  gotten  up  in  the  interest  of  slave-holders  and 
to  perpetuate  slavery.  After  seventeen  years,  and  the  expenditure  of  a 
great  deal  of  money,  only  three  thousand  negroes  had  been  transported 
to  Africa — equal  to  the  birth-rate  of  two  and  a  half  days  of  the  colored 
population  of  the  United  States." 

The  people  of  the  Northern  States  began  to  see  the  society  in  its  true 
light,  and  left  off  contributing  to  its  support. 

20 


306 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXII. 


A  national  antislavery  convention  was  held  in  Philadelphia  in  Decem- 
ber, 1833.  Fifty-seven  years  after  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence a  second  declaration  was  issued,  recognizing  the  right  of  each 
State  to  legislate  for  itself  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  but  declaring  that 


LUCRFTIA    MOTT. 


Congress  had  the  right  to  suppress  the  slave-trade  between  the  States,  and 
to  abolish  it  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  all  the  Territories.  Sixty- 
two  persons,  representing  ten  States,  signed  it. 

While  the  convention  was  in  session  a  lady  with  a  fair,  sweet  face, 
wearing  a  Quaker  bonnet,  rose.  She  had  something  to  say,  but  hesitated, 
fur  fear  somebodv  would  be  offended  if  a  woman  were  to  speak. 


1834.] 


BEGINNING   OF  A   GREAT  MOVEMENT. 


307 


"  Go  on,"  said  the  president. 

It  was  Lucretia  Mott,  of  Philadelphia.  Her  address  in  the  convention 
was  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  lives  of  women  in  the  United 
States.  From  that  day  to  the  present  their  voices  have  been  heard  in  the 
discussion  of  public  affairs. 

James  G.  Birney  lived  in  Huntsville,  Alabama.  Tie  was  a  lawyer  and 
a  Presbyterian  minister — arguing  cases  in  court  on  week-days,  preaching 
Sundays.  He  had  a  cotton 
plantation  and  held  slaves. 
One  of  his  slaves  had  been 
licensed  as  a  minister,  and 
preached  to  the  others. 
One  preacher  of  the  Gos- 
pel owning  a  fellow-preach- 
er!  Mr.  Theodore  Weld 
thought  it  a  singular  spec- 
tacle. 

"May  I  ask  by  what 
moral  right  you  hold  your 
brother- minister  in  bond- 
age ?"  he  asked  of  Mr.  Bir- 
ney, who  had  invited  him 
to  dinner. 

It  was  an  arrow  which 
went  straight  into  the  heart 
of  Mr.  Birney.  When  night 
came  he  could  not  sleep. 
All  through  the  midnight 
hours  he  turned  it  over. 
Frank  and  manly  his  an- 
swer in  the  morning  :  "  1 
cannot  show  any  moral  right 
to  hold  slaves,"  he  said.  lie 
liberated  them,  purchased  a 
printing-press,  and  was  go- 
ing to  establish  an  antislavery  paper  in  the  town  of  Danville,  Kentucky. 

"  We  will  not  have  any  such  paper  in  this  State,"  said  the  slave- 
holders. 

Mr.  Birney  went  to  Cincinnati  and  established  the  Philanthropist. 

"  The  citizens  of  Cincinnati  are  requested  to  meet  at  the  Lower  Market- 


FIT    ONLY    TO    BE    A    SLAVE. 


308  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXII. 

house,  to  see  if  they  will  permit  the  publication  of  an  abolition  paper," 
read  the  hand-bills  posted  on  the  walls  of  the  houses.  The  postmaster 
presided.  A  committee  of  thirteen  was  elected  ;  eight  of  them  were  mem- 
bers of  churches ;  Jacob  Burnett,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Senator  in 
Congress,  was  chairman. 

"  Unless  the  Philanthropist  is  discontinued  there  will  be  a  riot,"  said 
the  committee  to  a  committee  of  the  Ohio  Antislavery  Society. 

Judge  Burnett  and  the  eight  church-members  helped  on  a  mob  which 
scattered  the  types  in  the  street  and  threw  the  printing-press  into  the  Ohio 
River.     They  tried  to  find  Mr.  Birney. 

"  We  will  tar  and  feather  him  !"  shouted  a  mob  of  ruffians.  Not 
finding  him,  they  smashed  the  windows  in  the  houses  of  the  colored 
people. 

A  mob  in  Philadelphia  attacked  the  colored  people  living  there.  One 
negro  was  killed;  another,  to  escape,  jumped  into  the  Schuylkill  and  was 
drowned.  Many  were  brutally  beaten ;  women  and  girls  indecently  as- 
saulted. The  windows  of  forty -four  houses  were  smashed,  the  doors 
beaten  down,  and  the  furniture  thrown  into  the  street.  In  Xew  York 
there  were  like  scenes. 

The  churches,  instead  of  being  foremost  to  help  on  the  antislavery 
idea,  strenuously  opposed  it — Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Methodist,  Congrega- 
tionalist,  Unitarian,  Episcopal,  alike.  Ministers  in  the  Northern  States 
began  to  preach  in  defence  of  slavery,  claiming  that  it  was  sanctioned 
by  the  Bible — a  divine  institution  ordained  by  God  for  the  well-being 
of  the  human  race.  Was  not  Canaan  cursed  ?  Was  he  not  to  be  a 
servant  all  his  days?  Negroes  were  of  an  inferior  race — fit  only  to  be 
slaves. 

The  women  of  Boston  formed  a  Female  Antislavery  Society,  and  held 
a  meeting  October  21, 1S35.  The  young  printer,  Mr.  Garrison,  and  George 
Thompson,  of  England,  were  there.  Mary  Parker  read  a  chapter  from  the 
Bible  and  offered  prayer.  Mingled  with  the  supplication  were  oaths  and 
shouts  from  a  mob  outside  the  building. 

"  We  pray  Thee  to  bless  the  slave  in  his  bondage,"  from  the  lips  of 
Mary  Parker. 

"  Snake  out  the  Abolitionists.  To  the  tar  kettle  with  them  !"  is  the 
shout  of  the  mob. 

"  I  entreat  you  to  dissolve  the  meeting,"  cried  Mayor  Lyman,  rushing 
into  the  room. 

"  We  demand  protection,"  said  the  women. 

"  I  cannot  protect  you." 


1835.]  BEGINNING   OF  A   GKEAT   MOVEMENT.  309 

Into  the  room  rush  the  ruffians,  knocking  Mr.  Garrison's  hat  from  his 
head,  putting  a  rope  around  his  neck,  dragging  him  into  the  street. 

"  Hang  him  !  hang  him  !"  shouted  the  moh.  The  police  rescued  him, 
taking  him  into  the  old  State-house,  in  State  Street,  hustled  him  into  a 
carriage,  and  drove  him  to  the  jail,  to  save  him  from  the  infuriated  men- — ■ 
not  from  men  whose  homes  were  in  old  houses  in  out-of-the-way  streets, 
but  merchants  and  traders  who  had  ships  on  the  sea,  and  who  bought  cot- 
ton at  Charleston  and  New  Orleans ;  who  went  from  their  counting-rooms 
to  well-furnished  houses,  and  drank  wine  at  dinner. 

That  21st  of  October,  1835,  was  a  day  of  riots.  There  was  one  in 
Utica,  New  York.     An  antislavery  convention  was  to  meet  there. 

"  It  would  be  better  to  have  Utica  destroyed,  like  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rah, than  to  have  the  convention  meet,"  said  Samuel  Beadsley,  member 
of  Congress  from  Utica.  The  convention  met,  but  a  mob  rushed  in  and 
broke  up  the  meeting. 

"Come  to  my  house,"  said  Gerritt  Smith,  of  Peterborough.  He  had 
come  to  Utica— not  an  antislavery  man — to  hear  what  the  abolitionists 
would  have  to  say.  He  loved  justice  and  fair  discussion,  and  from  that 
hour  was  an  abolitionist,  giving  freely  of  his  money  to  help  on  the  cause. 

There  was  an  antislavery  meeting  in  Pittstield,  New  Hampshire.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Curtis  was  offering  prayer.  The  Rev.  George  Storrs,  who  was 
to  give  an  address,  was  kneeling  beside  him,  when  the  sheriff  seized  him, 
and  dragged  him  before  a  justice  of  the  peace,  who  sentenced  him  to 
the  House  of  Correction  for  three  months. 

In  Philadelphia  stood  Pennsylvania  Hall,  which  cost  $10,000,  dedi- 
cated to  free  discussion.  A  meeting  was  held  there  for  the  discussion 
of  three  great  moral  questions :  how  to  save  drunkards ;  how  to  bene- 
fit the  Indians;  how  to  abolish  slavery.  From  South  Carolina  came 
two  liberty -loving  women  to  attend  the  meeting — Angelina  and  Sarah 
Grimke. 

A  mob  broke  the  windows  with  clubs  and  stones.  Mr.  Garrison  made 
an  address. 

"The  mob  think  to  silence  us,"  he  said;  "but  there  shall  be  no  silence 
till  the  bowlings  of  the  bereaved  slave-mother  are  turned  into  shouts  of 
gladness. 

"If  yon  will  surrender  the  keys  of  the  hall  to  me  I  will  save  it  from 
destruction,"  said  the  mayor. 

The  keys  were  given  to  him;  but  at  midnight  it  was  set  on  fire  by  the 
mob  and  totally  destroyed. 

In  St.  Louis  a  negro  committed  a  heinous  crime,     lie  was  seized  by 

20* 


310 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXII. 


the  mob,  tied  to  a  stake,  wood  heaped  around  him,  tar  poured  upon  the 
wood,  a  fire  kindled — roasting  him  alive.  When  life  was  extinct,  and  the 
crisped  body  was  hanging  to  the  stake,  men  and  boys  threw  stones  to  see 
which  should  first  smash  the  skull. 

"Such  an  act"- — wrote  the  Rev.  E.  P.  Love  joy,  a  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter, in  a  newspaper  which  he  was  editing — "  is  worthy  of  savages  or  of  the 
dark  ages,"  whereupon  the  mob  threw  his  printing-press  into  the  river. 

He  moved  to  Alton,  Illinois — into   a  free  State.     The   right   of   free 


DEATH  OF  LOVE  JOY.   (FROM  A  PRINT  OF  THE  TIMES.) 

speech  was  the  great  question  of  the  hour.  He  sent  for  another  printing- 
press,  calling  on  the  mayor  for  protection.  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  some  of  the 
citizens  of  the  town  were  made  special  policemen  to  protect  his  property. 
The  press  arrived  at  night,  and  was  put  into  a  stone  warehouse.  Up  from 
St.  Louis  came  a  steamboat  crowded  with  armed  men.  Mr.  Oilman  owned 
the  warehouse  in  which  the  press  was  stored. 

"It  is  my  right  and  my  determination  to  defend  the  property,"  said 
Mr.  Lovejoy  and  the  citizens  with  him  in  the  building,  who  were  armed 
with  guns. 

"  Tear  down  the  building!  Shoot  the  abolitionists!"  shouted  the  mob, 
who  began  to  fire  bullets  through  the  windows.  The  citizens  in  the  build- 
ing returned  the  fire,  killing  one  and  wounding  another. 

"  Burn  the  building  !"  cried  the  mob.  They  raised  a  ladder,  and 
a  man  went  up  with  a  torch  to  set  the  roof  on  tire.     Mr.  Lovejoy  came 


1836.] 


BEGINNING   OF   A   GREAT   MOVEMENT. 


311 


out  with  a  gun  in  his  hands,  but  the  next  moment  fell  pierced  with  five 
bullets.  The  citizens,  seeing  him  fall,  fled  from  the  building,  the  mob 
tiring  upon  them  as  they  came,  then  entering  the  building,  breaking  the 
press  to  pieces,  and  throwing  it  into  the  river. 

Liberty  of  speech,  the  right  of  free  discussion,  was  the  question  before 
the  country  now.  Men  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  antislavery  ques- 
tion saw  that  there  was  a  mighty  issue  at  stake.  A  great  meeting  was 
held  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  where  on  the  walls  are  portraits  of  Washing- 
ton, Otis,  Hancock,  and  Adams.     Dr.  Channing  made  a  speech  condemn- 


WENDELL    PHILLIPS. 


ing  the  outrage  at  Alton.     Then  the  Attorney-general  of  the  State,  James 
T.  Austin,  sprung  to  his  feet. 

"Lovejoy,"  he  said,  "died  as  the  fool  dieth.     The  men  who  threw  his 


312 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXII. 


press  into  the  Missouri  were  as  patriotic  as  the  men  who  threw  the  tea 
into  Boston  Harbor  before  the  Revolution.  We  have  a  menagerie  in  our 
city,  with  lions,  tigers,  hyenas,  an  elephant,  a  jackass  or  two,  and  monkeys 
in  plenty.     Suppose,  now,  some  man  with  philanthropic  feelings  who  be- 


._,  .  _.-•'..         .  _: ■  ■■      "■_-■  -   _■ 

EDMUND    QUINCT, 


lieves  that  all  are  entitled  to  freedom  as  an  inalienable  right,  should  en- 
gage in  the  humane  work  of  giving  them  their  liberty,  and  should  try  to 
induce  them  to  break  their  cages  and  be  free.  Xow,  the  people  of  Mis- 
souri had  as  much  reason  to  be  afraid  of  their  slaves  as  we  of  the  wild 
beasts  of  the  menagerie.  They  had  the  same  dread  of  Lovejoy  that  we 
should  have  of  this  supposed  instigator,  if  we  really  believed  the  bars 
would  be  broken  and  the  caravan  let  loose  to  prowl  about  our  streets." 

"Hurrah!"  shouted  the  crowd — well-dressed  men  as  well  as  ruffians 
— who  applauded  the  speaker. 

Upon  the  platform  stepped  a  young  man  whose  voice  never  before 
had  been  heard  in  the  Hall — Wendell  Phillips. 

"When  I  heard  the  gentleman."  he  said,  "  lay  down  principles  which 
placed  the  rioters,  incendiaries,  and  murderers  of  Alton  side  by  side  with 
Otis,  Hancock,  Quincy,  and  Adams  I  thought  those  pictured  lips   on   the 


1836.]  BEGINNING   OF   A   GREAT   MOVEMENT.  313 

walls  would  have  broken  into  voice  to  rebuke  the  recreant  American — 
slanderer  of  the  dead.  For  the  sentiments  the  gentleman  has  uttered  on 
the  soil  consecrated  by  the  prayer  of  Puritans  and  the  blood  of  patriots 
the  earth  should  have  yawned  and  swallowed  him  up." 

"Take  that  back!"  shouted  the  crowd,  shaking  their  fists  at  him. 

Mr.  Phillips  was  not  a  man  to  take  it  back,  but  went  on  to  say  just 
what  he  pleased,  determined  that  in  the  "Cradle  of  Liberty,"  as  Faneuil 
Hall  is  called,  there  should  be  freedom  of  speech  forever. 

Another  man,  Edmund  Quincy,  grandson  of  the  patriot  of  the  Revo- 
lution, from  that  evening  became  a  leader  of  the  movement  for  free  speech 
and  the  freedom  of  the  slave.  He  was  an  able  writer,  and  his  pen  was 
ever  employed  in  defending  the  principles  which  he  had  espoused. 

There  wTere  mobs  and  riots  in  many  places,  every  outburst  of  violence 
setting  men  to  thinking  more  seriously  upon  the  great  question  of  the 
hour. 


314 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIII. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


WAR   WITH   MEXICO. 

rF^EXAS  was  a  free   and   independent  government.      The  Americans 

•*-  who  had  settled  there  wished  to  be  annexed  to  the  United  States. 

The  slave-holders  in  the  United  States  ardently  desired  its  annexation, 

because  it  would  increase  their  political  power. 

"Slavery  should   pour    itself   abroad    without   restraint,  and    find    no 

limit  but  the  Southern  Ocean,"  said  Mr.  Wise 

of  Virginia,  in  Congress. 

He  was  looking  into  the  future,  and  saw 

that  there  was  very  little  territory  south  of  the 

southern  boundary  of  Missouri  that  could  be 

made  into  slave  States.     The  slave-holders 

wanted  not  only  to  annex  Texas,  but  to  obtain 

all  the  country  between  Texas  and  the  Pacific 

Ocean.     In  March,  1S45,  Texas  was  annexed 

^     by  act   of  Congress.     What  was   its  western 
Hi  ■      J  ° 

boundary?     President   Polk   claimed  that   it 

was  the  Pio  Grande ;  Mexico  that  it  was  the 

river  Xeuces.     The  strip  of  country  between 

the    two    streams    was    nearly    two    hundred 

The  Hag  of  Texas  never  had  waved  over  it.     President  Polk 

ordered  General  Zachary  Taylor,  who  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Neuces,  to 

take  possession  of  the  disputed  territory.     He  marched  across  the  country, 

and  reached  the  Rio  Grande.      The  people  of  Matamoras,  on  the  Avest- 

ern  bank,  beheld  with  astonishment  the  planting  of  cannon  opposite  the 

town.     The  river  is  narrow,  and  the  Americans  were  so  near  that  they 

could  lift  their  caps  to  the  Mexican  ladies  and  salute  them  with  "Buena 

Senoritas." 

General  Taylor  stationed  two  vessels  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande 

to  blockade  the  river.     A  Mexican  vessel  loaded  with  flour  attempted  to 

enter,  but  was  stopped;  and  flour  became  so  scarce  in  Matamoras  that  a 

barrel  was  worth  forty  dollars. 


ZACHARY    TAYLOK. 


miles  wide. 


1846.] 


WAR   WITH  MEXICO. 


317 


General  Taylor  sent  Lieutenant  Thornton  with,  a  party  of  dragoons 
to  scour  the  country. 

"  You  are  to  capture  and  destroy  any  parties  of  the  enemy  you  may 
meet,"  read  his  orders. 

Lieutenant  Thornton  discovered  a  party  of  Mexicans  and  charged  upon 
them.  There  was  a  fight,  in  which  sixteen  Americans  were  killed  and 
wounded. 

There  had  been  no  declaration  of  war,  but  it  had  begun  through  the 
aggressive  acts  of  the  United  States.  Mexico  was  in  a  state  of  anarchy. 
In  ISM  Santa  Anna  was  President,  but  had  been  deposed  and  banished. 

General  Canaliza  succeeded  him;  but  General  Herrera  brought  about 
another  revolution  and  became  President.  He  was  soon  deposed  by  Gen- 
eral Paredes,  who  wished  to  be  supreme  dictator — these  the  changes  of 
eighteen  months. 

There  were  four  distinct  classes  of  people  in  Mexico:  the  Indians ;  the 
Mestizas,  descendants  of  the  early  Spanish  settlers  and  Indians;  the  Cre- 
oles, pure-blooded  descendants  of  the  first  settlers  from  Spain ;  and  the 
Spanish  who  had  been  born  in  Spain,  but  who  had  emigrated  to  Mexico. 
The  Creoles  hated  the  Spaniards,  and  called  them  Gauchapins — a  con- 


temptuous epithet.     The  Mestizas  outnumbered  all  the  others.     They  loved 
display,  to  wear  uniforms,  to  be  called  general  or  colonel. 

They  had  made  themselves  independent  of  Spain,  and  had  established 
a  republic,  but  had  little  conception  of  wThat  constitutes  a  republic — that 
there  must  be  intelligence,  virtue,  morality.  There  were  frequent  revolu- 
tions— each  general  aspiring  to  be  President,  and  attempting,  by  using  the 
army,  to  accomplish  his  purpose. 


318 


BUILDING   THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIII. 


The  people  were  ignorant,  the  country  poor.  The  priests  owned  more 
than  half  the  land.  The  Mexicans  knew  very  little  of  the  power  of  the 
United  States.  They  held  the  Americans  in  contempt.  The  Mexican 
Government  paid  no  attention  to  the  claims  of  the  United  States  for  prop- 
erty of  American  citizens  taken  and  destroyed.  The  men  who  one  after 
another  became  Presidents  were  looking  after  their  own  aggrandizement, 
and  gave  little  heed  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  or  its  relations  to 
other  countries.     When  General  Taylor  marched  to  the  Rio  Grande  and 


FIGHT   IN   THE   STREETS  OF   MONTEREY. 


occupied  the  country  the  Mexicans  regarded  it  as  an  invasion.  They 
were  proud,  and  determined  to  fight 

General  Taylor,  with  twenty-three  hundred  men,  was  marching  north 
from  Point  Isabel,  on  the  sea-coast,  toward  Fort  Brown,  opposite  Matamo- 
ras.  He  had  twelve  cannon,  two  of  them  eighteen -pounders.  General 
Arista,  with  six  thousand  men  and  twelve  cannon,  crossed  the  Rio  Grande, 
and  chose  a  spot  between  two  thickets,  where  he  would  give  battle.  The 
Mexican  troops  were  brave;  but  the  artillery  was  no  match  for  Major 
Ringgold's  and  Duncan's  batteries  of  flying  artillery* 

General  Arista  placed  his  cavalry  on  his  left  wing,  then  two  cannon, 
then  a  line  of  infantry,  then  four  more  cannon  —  so  extending  his  line 
from  thicket  to  thicket. 


1846.]  WAR   WITH   MEXICO.  321 

It  was  noon,  on  May  8,  1S46,  when  General  Taylor  discovered  the 
Mexicans.  He  left  the  Fifth  Regiment  of  infantry  and  a  squadron  of 
cavalry  to  protect  his  three  hundred  wagons,  and  formed  his  troops  across 
the  road.  The  artillery  galloped  forward  and  wheeled;  the  men  leaped 
from  the  gun-carriages  and  opened  fire. 

The  Mexican  cavalry,  under  General  Torrejon,  came  round  the  thicket 
on  General  Taylor's  right  to  seize  the  wagons ;  but  a  volley  from  the  Fifth 
Regiment  sent  them  flying  over  the  plain.  The  tall  grass  took  fire  from 
the  gun-wads,  and  the  flames  swept  toward  the  Mexicans.  Under  cover 
of  the  smoke  General  Arista  moved  a  portion  of  his  troops  to  attack  the 
Americans;  but  they  were  badly  cut  up  by  Major  Ringgold's  cannon. 
There  was  little  musketry  firing,  but  the  cannon  on  both  sides  thundered 
till  night.  The  Americans  lost  fifty-six  killed  and  wounded ;  the  Mexi- 
cans between  three  and  four  hundred. 

During  the  night  General  Arista  retreated  to  Resaca  de  la  Palma. 
Twto  thousand  re-enforcements  joined  him,  increasing  his  force  to  more 
than  seven  thousand.  He  stationed  them  along  a  ravine  with  thickets 
on  both  sides.  General  Taylor  advanced.  The  artillery  opened.  Cap- 
tain May,  with  his  squadron  of  dragoons,  swept  over  the  plain,  the  horses 
upon  the  run  charging  upon  a  battery,  cutting  down  the  gunners,  and 
capturing  General  La  Vega.  The  infantry  came  on,  fell  upon  the  Mexi- 
cans, and  drove  them  in  confusion  across  the  ravine.  The  battle  wTas 
won.  General  Arista  lost  all  his  cannon,  baggage,  arms,  ammunition, 
and  five  hundred  pack-mules. 

A  Mexican  poet  celebrated  the  encounter  in  the  following  lines: 

"  Rio  Bravo !  Rio  Bravo ! 

Saw  men  ever  such  a  sight, 
Since  the  field  of  Roncesvalles 

Sealed  the  fate  of  many  a  knight? 

"  Dark  is  Palo  Alto's  story, 
Sad  Resaca  Palma's  rout; 
On  those  fatal  fields  so  gory 
Many  a  gallant  life  went  out. 


"  On  they  came,  those  Northern  horsemen — 
On  like  eagles  toward  the  sun  ; 
Followed  then  the  Northern  bayonet, 
And  the  field  was  lost  and  won." 

General  Taylor,   with    six    thousand   five    hundred    men,   marched   at 
once  to  Monterey,  the  capital  of  the  State  of  New  Leon.     It  is  distant 

21 


•)■> 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIII. 


one  hundred  miles  from  the  Hio  Grande,  and  is  situated  in  a  beautiful 
valley,  amid  the  Sierra  Madre,-or  Mother  Mountains.     General  Ampudia 


^o   fylfot 

iaeuJ.aja,-   V— «-wTLASCALA     i^  -  „,—  - 


:  -J  Tula    C        /      WS^'X    K 


/        J-  ,<  ^  p  u  e  b  |  a^  '.^  -frdova 

t~*W    <    of  •'    f|    ~ 

v-V  P  U,E  B    L  O      '  >%. 


o 


Tone  TV. from  "vTashiictn 


ROUTE    OF    THE    MEXICAN    ARMIES    BETWEEN    VERA    CRUZ    AND    THE    RIO    GRANDE. 

was  posted  there  with  ten  thousand  Mexican  soldiers.  lie  erected  forts 
and  batteries,  and  planted  cannon  to  defend  it.  One  by  one  they  were 
taken,  and  General  Ampndia's  retreat  cut  off.     lie  sent  a  flag  of  truce, 


II'  r:   IB  W    x 
w  i '  #,! 


W '';vlU\in{fsi'/ 


1847.]  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.  325 

offering  to  surrender  the  town  if  General  Taylor  would  permit  him.  to 
leave.     The  offer  was  accepted,  and  he  marched  away. 

Mexico  was  in  no  condition  to  carry  on  the  war  successfully.  It  had 
no  money ;  everything  was  wanting.  The  officers  were  inefficient.  Gen- 
eral Taylor  was  sweeping  all  before  him.  His  name  was  a  terror.  An- 
other larger  and  more  powerful  American  army,  under  General  Scott,  was 
getting  ready  to  capture  Vera  Cruz  and  march  fur  the  city  of  Mexico. 
What  should  be  done  ? 

General  Santa  Anna,  who  had  been  an  exile  in  Cuba,  hastened  to  Mex- 
ico. The  government  wished  him  to  become  dictator;  but  he  refused  the 
offer,  and  was  made  commander-in-chief. 

Money  must  be  had.  Where  could  it  be  obtained  ?  Why  not  take 
the  property  of  the  Church?  A  law  was  passed  by  the  Mexican  Congress 
empowering  the  government  to  take  such  property  sufficient  to  raise  fif- 
teen million  dollars.  It  was  a  great  blow  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  Mexico — one  which  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  connection  with  the 
history  of  that  country.  The  State  of  San  Luis  de  Potosi  authorized  its 
governor  to  seize  the  property  of  individuals.  Santa  Anna  pledged  a  por- 
tion of  his  own  property.     By  these  means  money  was  obtained. 

In  January,  1SI7,  Santa  Anna  was  marching  north  with  twenty-five 
thousand  men.  It  was  eight  hundred  miles  from  the  city  of  Mexico  to 
Monterey ;  but  in  less  than  a  month's  time  he  had  organized  the  army  and 
was  ready  to  fall  upon  General  Taylor.  lie  would  crush  him,  then  hasten 
back  and  sweep  General  Scott  into  the  sea. 

General  Taylor  had  only  four  thousand  five  hundred  men;  but  he 
believed  that  he  could  win  a  victory  at  Buena  Vista — "Beautiful  View/1 
It  lies  in  a  narrow  valley,  with  lofty  mountains  on  each  side.  Just  south 
of  the  farm-house  of  Buena  Vista  was  La  Angostura,  "  the  Narrows ;"  be- 
yond, the  valley  southward,  was  a  mile  and  a  half  wide.  The  plain  was 
cut  into  deep  ravines  by  the  torrents  which  sometimes  poured  down  from 
the  mountains.  General  Taylor  had  retreated  from  Agua  Nueva  —  the 
"New  Wells  "—twelve  miles,  to  Buena  Vista.  Santa  Anna  thought  that 
he  was  fleeing  to  get  beyond  the  Bio  Grande,  and  sent  General  Minon, 
with  two  thousand  cavalry,  over  the  mountains  toward  Saltillo,  or  Mon- 
terey, to  cut  off  his  retreat,  and  pressed  on  to  overtake  him. 

February  22.  It  was  Washington's  birthday.  At  sunrise  the  drums 
beat,  bugles  sounded,  and  the  band  at  Buena  Vista  played  "Hail,  Colum- 
bia!" as  the  regiments  unfurled  their  flags  to  the  breeze. 

Up  the  valley  beyond  the  Narrows  the  soldiers  beheld  the  Mexican 
army  deploying  to  sweep  them  out  of  the  valley  or  be  cut  to  pieces. 


326  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXIII. 

An  officer  with  a  white  flag  came  down  the  valley,  bringing  a  letter 
from  Santa  Anna  to  General  Taylor. 

"  You  are  surrounded  by  twenty  thousand  men,  and  cannot  avoid  being 
cut  to  pieces.  ...  I  give  you  this  notice  that  you  may  surrender  at  dis- 
cretion," read  the  letter. 

"  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  I  decline  acceding  to  your  request,"  was  Gen- 
eral Taylor's  reply. 

Across  the  valley  at  La  Angostura,  where  it  was  narrowest,  General 
Taylor  formed  his  line  of  battle.  On  the  west  side  of  the  little  stream 
were  Bragg's  battery  and  the  Kentucky  Volunteers.  At  Angostura  he 
placed  Washington's  battery  of  eight  guns,  with  the  First  Regiment  of 
Indiana  Volunteers.  Next  in  line  stood  the  Illinois  Volunteers,  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Hardin,  and  a  company  of  Texans.  This  made  the 
line  complete  to  the  higher  ground  of  the  broad  plateau. 

The  First  Dragoons,  the  Second  Illinois,  and  Second  Indiana  and 
Arkansas  regiments  were  far  out  on  the  plateau,  toward  the  base  of  the 
mountain.  Washington's  battery  was  the  key  to  the  position.  The  Nar- 
rows must  be  held,  or  all  would  be  lost. 

Santa  Anna  ordered  General  Ampudia  to  climb  the  mountain-side  be- 
yond the  head  of  the  ravine  and  turn  the  left  flank  of  the  Americans. 
It  was  past  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  before  the  Mexicans  were  ready 
to  move.  When  General  Taylor  saw  them  climbing  the  mountain  he 
directed  the  Arkansas  and  Kentucky  troops — all  under  Colonel  Marshall 
— to  head  them  off. 

From  the  Narrows  across  the  plateau,  almost  to  the  base  of  the  moun- 
tain, galloped  Lieutenant  O'Brien  with  two  of  Washington's  cannon. 

"Can  you  spare  me  another?"  General  Wool  asked  of  Washington. 

"  Yes." 

"  If  I  take  three  guns  what  will  become  of  the  key  to  our  position  ?" 

"  I  will  defend  it." 

Another  gun  went  up  over  the  plateau. 

It  was  three  o'clock.  Ampudia  was  far  up  on  the  mountain-side.  The 
time  had  come  for  the  battle  to  begin.  The  Mexican  cannon  opened, 
and  Lieutenant  O'Brien  replied.  Nearer  to  each  other  came  the  moun- 
tain-climbers. The  musketry  began  —  the  Mexicans  firing  wildly,  the 
Americans  resting  their  rifles  on  the  rocks  and  taking  deliberate  aim — 
the  fight  going  on  till  the  sun  went  down  behind  the  peaks  of  the  Sierra 
Madre.  When  night  came  on  the  soldiers  of  each  army  rested  in  their 
positions.  In  the  evening  General  Taylor  rode  to  Saltillo  to  see  that 
everything  was  safe  there  against  an  attack  from  General  Minon. 


1847.] 


WAR   WITH   MEXICO. 


327 


Morning  dawns.  Santa  Anna  lias  arranged  to  attack  with  three 
columns.  The  first,  commanded  by  General  Yillamil,  to  move  straight, 
down  the  valley  and  seize  the  Narrows;  the  second,  composed  of  General 
Pacheco's  and  General  Lombardini's  divisions,  to  sweep  along  the  base 
of  the  mountain;  the  third,  General  Ampudia,  to  gain  the  rear  of  the 
left  flank,  and  with  the  second  division  sweep  the  Americans  pell-mell 
out  through  the  Narrows. 

On  the  mountain  once  more  begins  the  rattle  of  musketry.  The 
Mexican  cannon  open  fire.  General  Pacheco  is  crossing  the  first  ravine. 
Lieutenant  O'Brien  saw  his  oppor- 
tunity, galloped  forward  with  his 
guns,  and  threw  the  shot  and  shell 
thick  and  fast  into  the  advancing 
host.  General  Lane  sent  Colonel 
Bowles  with  the  Second  Indiana 
Regiment  to  support  him.  They 
opened  fire,  but  Colonel  Bowles 
suddenly  issued  a  strange  order. 

"Cease  firing  and  retreat!"  he 
shouts. 

Why  he  gave  the  order  no 
one  knows;  bat  in  an  instant  the 
regiment  was  broken  up,  the  men 
running  across  the  plateau  to  the 
rear.     On  came  the  Mexicans. 

"Double-shot  with  canister!" 
shouts  O'Brien. 

The  three  guns  flash,  mowing  great  swaths  in  the  ranks  now  close 
upon  him.  Down  go  the  horses  and  men  of  one  gun.  Again  two  of  the 
cannon  flame.  He  can  stay  no  longer.  Back  over  the  plateau  the  horses 
drag  the  two  guns,  leaving  the  third  to  the  Mexicans.  He  reaches  the 
Narrows.  Some  of  the  artillerymen  are  dead  on  the  plateau — all  are 
wounded  ;  not  a  man,  except  Lieutenant  O'Brien,  has  escaped  uninjured. 

Toward  the  advancing  hosts  rumble  two  of  Sherman's  guns.  The 
men  leap  from  their  seats,  wheel  them  into  position,  and  send  canister- 
shot  into  the  Mexican  lines. 

With  steady  step  move  the  Second  Illinois  Volunteers;  Colonel  Bis- 
sell  commands  them.  The  air  is  thick  with  balls,  and  the  men  involun- 
tarily duck  their  heads. 

"  Stead}'',  boys.     Don't  duck  your  heads." 


JOHN    E.  WOOL. 


32S  BUILDING   THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXIII. 

"With  a  roar  a  cannon-shot  passes  by:  Colonel  Bissell  involuntarily 
stoops  in  his  saddle. 

"You  may  duck  the  big  ones,  boys." 

He  is  cool,  brave,  kind-hearted,  and  the  soldiers  love  him.  With  a 
cheer  they  move  on. 

Mexicans  in  front,  on  their  right,  and  a  great  cloud  sweeping  round  on 
the  left  of  this  one  regiment,  whose  rifles  are  a  sheet  of  flame.  Colonel 
Bissell  sees  that  he  must  fall  back  on  his  supports. 

"  Face  to  the  rear !     March  I" 

The  troops  move  as  they  have  been  accustomed  to  move  upon  parade. 

Four  companies  of  Arkansas  Volunteers  had  been  ordered  up  ;  but 
when  the  bullets  began  to  fly  they  fled,  and  were  not  seen  again  during 
the  battle. 

Down  from  the  mountain  moves  Ampudia's  infantry,  folding  back  the 
Americans  under  Colonel  Marshall,  turning  their  left  flank. 

With  steady  step  down  the  valley,  across  the  plateau,  move  the  troops 
under  Yillamil — straight  upon  the  five  guns  at  the  Narrows.  Ampudia, 
Pacheco,  and  Lombardini  are  driving  all  before  them.  Yillamil  will  take 
Washington's  five  guns  holding  the  gate-way,  and  then  will  come  the  rout 
of  the  Americans.  The  five  guns  open,  sending  shells  into  Villamil's 
lines.  The  gap  closes,  and  the  Mexicans  move  on.  They  are  in  column, 
and  the  shells  tear  through  the  successive  ranks. 

"Give  them  canister."  It  is  Washington's  quiet  order,  and  the  howit- 
zers, double-shotted,  send  a  withering  fire  upon  the  head  of  the  column. 
It  melts  away,  moves  back,  and  the  next  moment  the  men  are  fleeing  to 
find  shelter  in  the  ravines. 

Along  the  base  of  the  mountain,  still  turning  the  American  left  flank, 
move  Ampudia,  Pacheco,  and  Lombardini.  Yillamil  has  been  repulsed, 
but  tilings  look  badly  for  the  Americans. 

Up  to  this  hour  General  Taylor  has  not  been  upon  the  field,  but  he  is 
coming  with  May's  dragoons  from  Saltillo.  The  soldiers  behold  a  cloud 
of  dust  at  Buena  Yista,  and  recognize  their  brave  commander.  They 
swing  their  hats  and  give  a  cheer.  General  Wool  has  been  directing  the 
battle,  but  now  General  Taylor  takes  command.  Yillamil  has  been 
crushed.  There  is  no  need  for  Bragg  and  the  Kentucky  regiment  to  stay 
on  the  west  side  of  the  brook.  They  are  ordered  to  the  plateau.  Up  the 
plateau  toward  the  Mexicans,  the  horses  upon  the  gallop,  rumble  Bragg's 
and  Sherman's  guns.  Six  cannon  open  fire — not  now  toward  the  south,  but 
east  and  north-east.  Still  advances  Ampudia.  The  Mississippians,  under 
Colonel  Jefferson  Davis — one  small  regiment — alone  confronted  him  :  the 


1847.]  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.  329 

Mexicans  on  the  south  and  the  Mississippians  on  the  north  bank  of  a 
ravine. 

"  Forward  !"  The  whole  regiment  shouted  it.  Their  blood  was  up. 
Down  the  north  bank  they  leaped;  up  the  southern,  standing  face  to  face 
with  the  Mexicans.  They  brought  their  guns  to  the  level — a  sheet  of 
flame  burst  forth.  The  Mexicans  reeled,  wavered,  became  confused,  and 
then  fled  to  find  shelter  in  the  ravine  behind  them. 

Still  toward  Buena  Vista  pressed  the  Mexican  cavalry. 

Major  Dix,  Paymaster,  was  there.  Toward  Saltillo  were  streaming 
the  fugitives  of  the  Second  Indiana.  His  soul  was  on  fire.  He  seized 
their  colors,  shamed  them  by  his  brave  words,  gathered  up  the  fugitives 
of  all  regiments.  Dragoons  came.  General  Taylor  sent  two  cannon. 
They  moved  out  in  front  of  the  Mexicans  and  stopped  them.  On  the 
plateau  stood  the  Mississippians  and  First  Indianas  with  one  of  Sher- 
man's howTitzers.  In  close  column  of  squadron,  fifteen  hundred  Mexican 
lancers  came  upon  them,  the  troops  gayly  dressed,  their  horses  elegantly 
caparisoned,  the  lancers  sitting  erect.  The  brigade  was  the  pride  of  Santa 
Anna.  They  were  rich  men's  sons — the  most  dashing  troops  ever  put 
into  the  field  by  the  Mexicans.  Like  the  rumbling  of  distant  thunder 
was  the  tread  of  the  horses'  feet. 

One  charge  and  that  handful  of  Americans  wTould  go  down  beneath 
their  feet,  pierced  by  lances,  trampled  to  jelly.  Motionless  as  statues, 
silent  as  the  dead,  stood  the  Mississippians  and  Indianas,  their  rifles 
loaded.     The  Mexicans  were  astounded. 

Why  did  not  the  Yankees  run?    Why  did  they  not  fire? 

The  gallop  slackened  to  a  trot,  to  a  walk,  then  halted — only  three  hun- 
dred feet  away.  Fatal  mistake !  Ride  on  into  the  jaws  of  death,  launch 
your  column  like  a  thunder-bolt,  if  you  would  win,  O  Mexican  commander! 

"  Make  ready  !" 

There  was  a  clicking  of  locks. 

"Take  aim!" 

The  five  hundred  rifles  came  to  the  level — each  rifleman  singling  out 
his  man. 

"Fire!" 

Down  went  the  column — men  and  horses  together  in  a  ghastly  heap. 
Canister  from  the  howitzers  tore  through  them.  Back  over  the  plateau 
fled  the  living. 

The  supreme  moment  of  the  battle  had  passed.  The  tide  which  had 
been  bearing  the  Americans  back  little  by  little  had  turned,  and  now 
the   Americans    were    pursuing   the   Mexicans    back    to   the    mountains. 


330  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXIII. 

Washington's,  Sherman's,  and  Bragg's  cannon  —  all  were  thundering. 
Mexican  fugitives  were  beginning  to  climb  the  mountains.  Ampudia 
and  Pacheco  were  hemmed  in. 

A  Mexican  officer  with  a  white  flag  came  down  the  plateau,  bringing 
a  letter.     The  roar  of  battle  ceased. 

"What  does  General  Taylor  want?"  was  the  remarkable  question 
asked  by  Santa  Anna.  It  took  a  little  time  to  receive  it;  and  while  the 
firing  ceased  Ampudia  and  Pacheco  made  haste  to  get  beyond  the  pitiless 
storm  from  Bragg's  and  Sherman's  guns.  Santa  Anna  had  another  object 
in  view;  he  wished  to  know  just  how  many  Americans  there  were  at  the 
Narrows. 

The  officer  bringing  the  letter  made  good  use  of  his  eyes.  Santa  Anna 
marshalled  his  reserves.  Ten  thousand  Mexicans  under  Yiilamil  once 
more  advanced.  By  concentrating  all  his  force  upon  the  Narrows  he 
could  win  the  battle.  The  Mexicans  rushed  upon  O'Brien's  two  guns  and 
seized  them. 

Bragg  and  Sherman  are  on  the  plateau. 

"  To  the  Narrows !"  was  General  Taylor's  order,  and  the  drivers  lashed 
the  horses  to  a  run. 

Davis  and  Lowe  with  their  soldiers,  upon  the  double-quick,  streamed 
over  the  plain.  Washington  sends  canister  into  the  faces  of  the  Mexi- 
cans ;  Bragg  and  Sherman  into  their  flank.  No  troops  can  stand  against 
such  a  pitiless  storm.  The  rifles  of  the  Mississippians  and  Indianas  rattle 
once  more.  The  column  breaks;  the  Mexicans  throw  down  their  guns 
and  flee.  The  battle  is  won.  From  daylight  till  three  o'clock  it  has 
raged — the  four  thousand  five  hundred  Americans  defeating  twentj'-five 
thousand.  Of  the  Americans  two  hundred  and  sixty -seven  were  killed 
and  four  hundred  and  fifty  wounded ;  of  the  Mexicans  the  killed  and 
wounded  numbered  about  five  thousand. 

Morning  dawned.  The  Mexican  arm}7  was  fleeing  southward,  leaving 
more  than  two  thousand  wounded  to  be  cared  for  by  General  Taylor. 
The  Mexican  women  of  Buena  Yista  and  Saltillo  ministered  to  them ; 
and,  to  their  honor,  extended  their  kindness  to  the  wounded  Americans. 
The  fame  which  has  resulted  from  the  heroic  devotion  to  the  calls  of 
humanity  by  these  noble-minded  women  prompted  the  lines  by  Whit-tier 
entitled  "  The  Angels  of  Buena  Vista  :" 

"  '  Speak  and  tell  us,  our  Ximena,  looking  northward  far  away, 
O'er  the  camp  of  the  invaders,  o'er  the  Mexican  array, 
Who  is  losing?     Who  is  winning?     Are  they  far,  or  come  they  near? 
Look  abroad  and  tell  us,  sister,  whither  rolls  the  storm  we  hear  V 


1847.]  WAR   WITH   MEXICO.  3ol 

" '  Down  the  hills  of  Angostura  still  the  storm  of  battle  rolls ; 
Blood  is  flowing,  men  are  dying — God  have  mercy  on  their  souls !' 
'Who  is  losing?     Who  is  winning?' — 'Over  hill  and  over  plain 
I  see  but  smoke  of  cannon  clouding  through  the  mountain  rain.' 

"Nearer  came  the  storm,  and  nearer,  rolling  fast  and  frightful  on. 
'  Speak,  Ximena — speak,  and  tell  us  who  has  lost  and  who  has  won  ?' 
'  Alas  !  alas  !  I  know  not ;  friend  and  foe  together  fall : 
O'er  the  dying  rush  the  living.     Pray,  my  sisters,  for  them  all  !' " 


329 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XX1Y. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

WAR    WITH    MEXICO—  CONTINUED. 

DOWN  the  coast  of  Mexico  sailed  a  fleet,  commanded  by  Admiral 
Conner,  transporting  fourteen  thousand  men.  General  Scott,  who 
won  the  battle  of  Limdy's  Lane,  was  commander-in-chief  of  the  army. 
Under  him  were  Generals  Worth,  Twiggs,  Pillow,  Patterson,  and  Quit- 
man. General  Scott  was 
planning  to  capture  Vera 
Cruz,  a  city  of  fifteen  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  and'  then 
march  inland  to  the  city  of 
Mexico. 

Vera  Cruz  was  surrounded 
with  fortifications.  At  the 
south-western  side,  upon  the 
beach,  was  Fort  San  Jago; 
on  the  north  stood  Fort  Con- 
ception. Between  the  forts 
Avest  of  the  city  were  re- 
doubts and  redans.  In  the 
harbor  was  the  Castle  of 
San  Juan  de  Ulloa.  On  the 
fortifications  there  were  two 
hundred  and  eighteen  can- 
non. In  the  city  and  castle  were  four  thousand  soldiers,  under  General 
Morales. 

General  Scott,  instead  of  attacking  the  castle  with  the  fleet,  decided 
to  land  the  army,  besiege  the  city,  and  compel  its  surrender,  with  the 
castle.  If  he  could  cut  off  all  supplies  want  of  provisions  would  soon 
bring  it  about. 

General  Morales  was  making  his  calculations  on  a  different  plan.  It 
was  March.     The  noonday  sun  was  sending  down  its  scorching  heat;  sick- 


WINFIELD    SCOTT. 


1647.] 


AVAR   WITH   MEXICO—  COXTIXUED. 


333 


ness  would  soon  make  its  appearance.  The  yellow-fever  every  year  swept 
the  Terra  Caliente,  as  the  Mexicans  called  the  hot  plains  of  the  sea-coast. 
Sickness  and  the  "  voraito"  would  be  the  allies  of  the  Mexicans.  He  would 
hold  the  city  till  the  yellow-fever  made  its  appearance. 

The  American  fleet  reached  Vera  Cruz.  General  Scott,  on  a  small 
steamer,  sailed  along  the  roadstead — running  in  so  near  the  castle  that  the 
great  guns  began  to  flame,  sending  one  shell  close  to  the  steamer.  He 
discovered  a  landing-place  three  miles  south  of  the  city — a  long  reach  of 
yellow  sand,  a  smooth  beach,  with  no  Mexicans  near  to  oppose  the  land- 
ing. If  there  were  any  they  were  out  of  sight,  secreted  in  the  chaparral 
crowning  the  sand-hills  back  from  the  beach. 

When  all  was  ready  the  surf-boats  were  launched,  the  sailors  at  the 
oars.  The  soldiers  of  General  Worth's  division  stepped  in,  and  the  flotilla 
swept  toward  the  beach.  Officers  up  in  the  rigging  of  the  vessels  looked 
landward  with  their  glasses,  expecting  to  see  a  Mexican  army  show  itself 
beyond  the  sand-hills  to  oppose  the  landing;  but  none  appeared.  General 
Morales  with  half  a  dozen  cannon  might  have  done  them  much  harm;  but 
for  some  reason  he  did  nothing,  and  they  landed  without  opposition. 

It  was  slow,  hard,  and  tedious  work  to  get  the  heavy  siege-guns,  the 
cannon-balls,  powder,  tents,  wagons,  provisions,  horses,  and  mules  on  shore. 


VEHA    CRUZ. 


There  was  a  heavy  swell.  A  "  norther  "  came  on,  rolling  great  waves  upon 
the  beach,  smashing  the  boats,  wrecking  several  of  the  ships.  There  was 
no  harbor,  no  projecting  point  of  land  to  shelter  the  ships.  The  troops 
are  suffering  for  want  of  fresh-water.  When  the  storm  abated  all  hands 
worked  with  a  will.     The  engineers   reconnoitred  the   country.     One  of 


33± 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIV. 


them  was  Robert  E.  Lee ;  another  was  Captain  Ulysses  S.  Grant — names 
inseparably  connected  with  the  history  of  our  country. 

On  March  22  the  Americans  had  taken  possession  of  the  country  west 
of  the  city,  and  the  siege-guns  and  mortars  were  in  place.     No  one  could 


BOMBARDMENT    OF    VERA    CRUZ. 


enter  or  depart  from  the  town.  General  Scott  sent  a  white  flag  to  Gen- 
eral Morales  demanding  its  surrender. 

"  The  city  will  be  defended  to  the  last,"  was  the  reply. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  cannonade  began.  Till  darkness 
came,  through  the  night,  the  next  day  —  for  nine  days  —  shot  and  shell 
were  rained  upon  the  town — the  Mexicans  replying. 

General  Morales  had  not  calculated  correctly  in  regard  to  provisions ; 
they  were  getting  scarce.  The  yellow-fever  had  not  come.  The  people 
were  suffering;  shells  were  exploding  in  their  houses.  The  Americans 
were  planting  their  batteries  still  nearer,  lie  saw  that  the  town  must  be 
surrendered.  General  Scott  demanded  the  castle  also,  and  town  and  cas- 
tle were  both  given  up — the  troops,  after  laying  down  their  arms,  having 
liberty  to  go  to  their  homes.  The  Americans  had  obtained  a  foothold  on 
the  sea-coast,  and  soon  would  be  on  their  way  to  the  interior. 

Santa  Anna,  defeated  at  Buena  Vista  by  General  Taylor,  was  hasten- 
ing back  to  Mexico.  The  country  and  the  city  were  in  a  state  of  anarchy. 
His  army  had  crumbled  to  pieces.     The  nation  had  no  government  wor- 


1847.] 


WAR   WITH    MEXICO— CONTINUED. 


335 


thy  of  the  name.  Some  of  the  officers  of  the  army  had  begun  a  revolu- 
tion, but  he  put  it  down,  and  began  organizing  another  army. 

General  Scott  must  be  defeated.  Morales  aroused  the  patriotism  of 
the  Mexicans;  compelled  the  poor  peons  to  go  to  work  with  their  spades 
digging  ditches  and  throwing  up  in  frenchmen  ts  at  Cerro  Gordo,  a  pass  in 
the  foot-hills,  where  the  Americans  could  be  defeated.  In  a  few  days  he 
had  an  army  of  thirteen  thousand,  with  cannon  on  the  hills  to  sweep  the 
valley.  To  provide  water  for  his  troops  he  made  the  peons  dig  a  ditch 
twelve  miles  long. 

The  Americans  reached  Cerro  Gordo  on  April  17.  They  found  it  a 
rugged  pass  in  the  hills,  a  small  river  winding  through  it.     General  Scott 


A  ™4cKMXULT£PE 
Cfiurkhu&co_ 


A  t&^JnjHM.ca  -fa, 


ROUTE    TO    MEXICO. 


ordered  General  Pillow  to  attack  on  the  right,  General  Worth  the  left, 
and  General  Twiggs  to  gain  the  rear  of  the  Mexicans  by  marching  to  the 
left,  and,  if  possible,  cut  off  their  retreat. 

There  was  some  fighting  just  at  sunset  on  the  17th,  but  the  soldiers 
of  both  armies  lay  down  without  tents,  knowing  that  in  the  morning  the 
battle  would  begin.  The  sun  rose,  and  soon  after  the  Americans  were  on 
the  march.  The  Mexicans,  looking  down  from  their  batteries,  beheld  the 
lines  of  men  in  blue  advancing  along  the  deep  ravine,  over  rocky  ground, 
through  thickets  of  scrub  oak  and  cactus.  The  Mexican  cannon  Hashed. 
Solid  shot  and  shell  were  rained  upon  the  advancing  columns,  which  still 
continued  to  advance.  Soldiers. unaccustomed  to  tiring  downhill  usually 
overshoot  the  mark;  experienced  hunters  aim  low — General  Putnam  and 
John  Stark,  at  Bunker  Hill,  told  the  soldiers  to  aim  at  the  waistbands  of 
the  British.  When  the  Mexican  muskets  began  to  flame  the  bullets  went 
over  the  heads  of  the  men  in  blue,  who,  firing  uphill,  made  terrible  havoc. 
It  was  a  hard-fought  battle,  but  the  men  in  blue  rushed  up  the  heights  at 


336 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIV. 


ATTACK  OX  C'ERRO  GORDO. 


last,  leaped  over  the  breastworks  and  took  possession  of  them,  routing 
the  Mexicans  at  every  point,  capturing  the  cannon  (forty-seven  in  all)  and 
more  than  three  thousand  prisoners.  The  Americans  lost  four  hundred 
killed  and  wounded.  When  night  came  Santa  Anna  was  fleeing  toward 
the  city,  and  Mexico  had  no  army. 

General   Scott   marched  on   to    the   city  of  Jalapa,  so   called  because 
from  that  city,  in  1610,  the  root  of  the  jalap-plant — the  Convolvulus pwga 


1847.]  WAK   WITH   MEXICO—  CONTINUED.  337 

— was  first  exported  to  Europe,  and  which  from  that  time  to  the  present 
doctors  have  administered  to  their  patients. 

General  Scott  was  obliged  to  wait  at  Jalapa  for  supplies.  The  time 
for  which  the  volunteers  had  enlisted  had  expired,  and  they  must  be  sent 
home.  He  must  await  the  arrival  of  three  thousand  new  recruits,  under 
General  Franklin  Pierce,  before  moving  on.  The  soldiers  needed  rest. 
The}r  were  up  amid  the  hills — out  of  the  Terra  Caliente.  The  air  was 
healthful,  and  they  had  fine  times  eating  oranges  and  figs,  and,  whenever 
they  could  get  it,  drinking  pulque,  made  from  the  juice  of  the  maguey,  or 
century  plant.  The  Mexicans  make  an  incision  in  the  plant,  collect  a  pail- 
ful of  the  juice  daily,  allow  it  to  ferment,  then  put  it  into  bottles  made  of 
pig-skin.  If  they  drink  too  freely,  the  fumes,  as  of  other  liquors,  set  them 
singing  or  dancing,  or  make  them  weak  in  the  legs.  The  soldiers  drank  so 
much  that  General  Scott  was  obliged  to  put  a  stop  to  it.  Discipline  won 
the  battle  at  Lundy's  Lane,  and  discipline  and  valor  must  win  in  Mexico. 

Great  the  consternation  among  the  Mexicans  in  the  city  when  it  was 
known  that  all  wTas  lost  at  Cerro  Gordo.  Deeper  than  ever  the  hatred  of 
the  Yankees. 

"  Death  to  the  Americans !"  "  Viva  la  Bepublica  Mexicana  1"  were  the 
shouts  that  rent  the  air.  They  would  fight  to  the  last.  A  new  army  was 
organized.  The  shop-keepers  closed  their  stores  and  became  soldiers. 
In  a  short  time  Santa  Anna  had  again  an  army,  far  larger  than  that  at 
Buena  Vista — in  all  an  army  of  thirty-five  thousand.  All  were  animated 
by  one  idea — to  prevent  the  capture  of  the  city  by  General  Scott. 

Onward  from  Jalapa,  over  the  National  Boad,  inarched  the  Americans, 
beholding  the  white-capped  dome  of  Popocatepetl. 

When  Cortez  invaded  Mexico  the  city  was  surrounded  by  a  shallow 
lake,  but  now  the  water  has  dried  up,  and  there  is  a  wide  expanse  of 
marsh -land,  with  canals,  along  which  the  farmers  go  in  boats,  carrying 
vegetables,  ha}T,  and  pig- skins  filled  with  pulque  to  market.  Across  the 
marshes  runs  the  Aqueduct,  built  on  massive  stone  arches,  conveying  pure 
water  from  the  mountain  streams  to  the  city.  Over  the  marshes  also  runs 
the  National  Boad  to  Vera  Cruz,  along  which  General  Scott  was  marching. 

Santa  Anna  expected  that  the  Americans  would  attempt  to  march 
directly  into  the  city  by  that  road,  and  erected  fortifications  and  planted 
cannon  to  sweep  it.  To  prevent  their  approach  from  the  north  side  still 
stronger  batteries  were  erected  by  the  peons.  Ditches  were  dug,  em- 
bankments thrown  up,  and  cannon  placed  in  position.  East  of  the  city 
lies  Lake  Tezcuco ;  south  of  it,  six  miles  away,  are  two  other  lakes :  Lake 
Chalco,  reaching  to  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  with  only  a  mule-path  be- 

22 


338 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIV. 


tween  the  mountains  and  Lake  Chalco — a  path  leading  over  rugged  lava- 
beds.  The  Mexicans  never  dreamed  that  General  Scott  would  leave  the 
wide  and  hard-beaten  National  Road  and  take  his  cannon  and  baggage- 
wagons  along  such  a  rocky  path.  But  General  Scott  remembered  what 
Bonaparte  once  said:  "Never  go  where  your  enemy  wants  you  to  go." 
Santa  Anna  wanted  the  Americans  to  march  along  the  National  Koad  to 
El  Penon,  where  he  had  erected  batteries;  or  he  would  not  care  if  they 


THE    AMERICAN    ARMY    APPROACHING    MEXICO. 


went  up  the  east  side  of  Lake  Tezcuco  and  approached  the  city  from  the 
north.  He  did  not  think  it  likely  that  General  Scott  would  choose  to  ad- 
vance from  the  south-west,  and  did  very  little  to  protect  that  quarter.  He 
made  no  attempt,  after  the  defeat  at  Cerro  Gordo,  to  stop  the  Americans. 
He  would  let  them  get  through  the  gap  in  the  mountains  into  the  valley, 
far  from  all  their  supplies.  He  would  fight  on  the  defensive,  putting  the 
Americans  to  disadvantage. 

Up  over  the  hills,  ascending  all  the  way  from  Vera  Cruz,  marched  ten 
thousand  Americans  to  attack  a  city  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
inhabitants,  defended  by  thirty-five  thousand  men  in  arms.  The  soldiers 
reached  the  divide,  and,  looking  westward,  beheld  the  wide  reach  of  marsh- 
lands, the  placid  waters  of  the  lakes  gleaming  in  the  sun,  the  glistening- 
crosses  on  the  spires  of  cathedral  and  churches. 

"  The  mule-path  can  be  made  practicable  for  the  cannon  and  wagons," 


1847.] 


WAR  WITH  MEXICO— Costisued. 


341 


said  the  engineers,  and  General  Scott,  instead  of  going  where  Santa  Anna 
wanted  him  to  go,  turned  off  from  the  main  road.  The  peons,  who  had 
been  compelled  to  work  for  the  Mexicans,  were  just  as  ready  to  work  for 
the  Americans.  They  rolled  rocks  out  of  the  road,  levelled  clown  the  steep 
hills,  filled  the  ravines,  and  the  army  moved  on  around  Lake  Chalco  and 
across  the  pedregal  — 
"  the  lava-beds  " — as  the 
Mexicans  called  it. 

With  five  thousand 
Mexicans,  General  Va- 
lencia confronted  the 
Americans  at  Contreras. 
This  officer  was  proud, 
self-willed,  boastful.  He 
was  intriguing  to  over- 
throw Santa  Anna  and 
become  commander-in- 
chief  himself.  Santa 
Anna,  seeing  that  Valen- 
cia could  not  maintain 
his  position  at  Contreras, 
ordered  him  to  fall  back 
toward  a  stronger  po- 
sition at  Cherubusco. 
There  was  no  reason 
why  he  should  stay  at 
Contreras,  except  that 
there  the  mule -path 
joined  the  main  road. 
When  an  American  rec- 
onnoitring   party    came 

down  the  path  the  Mexicans  fired  upon  it  and  killed  a  horse.  The  recon- 
noitring party  retired,  which  so  elated  Valencia  that  he  sent  word  to  Santa 
Anna,  at  Cherubusco,  that  he  had  driven  back  the  Americans  and  won 
a  great  victory. 

"  Fall  back  "  was  Santa  Anna's  order  repeated. 

General  Valencia  refused  to  obey.  lie  would  hold  his  position,  defeat 
the  Americans,  and  become  the  great  man  of  the  nation — commander-in- 
chief  and  dictator.     He  had  twenty-two  cannon.     There  was  a  ravine  in 

front  of  him;  the  lava-beds  protected  his  right  flank.     There  were  skir- 

22* 


THE    ACiUEDUCT. 


342  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXIV. 

mishing  and  cannonading,  marching  and  countermarching.  Santa  Anna 
came  from  Chernbusco  with  twelve  thousand  men. 

"  I  liave  won  a  second  victory"  was  the  message  which  he  received  from 
Valencia,  who,  because  the  Americans  had  retired  after  finding  jnst  how 
he  was  situated,  thought  that  he  had  defeated  them. 

Santa  Anna  announced  the  victory  to  his  troops  in  front  of  the  haci- 
enda of  San  Jeronimo. 

"Viva  el  General  Valencia!"  "Viva  la  Republica  Mexicana!"  were 
the  shouts  that  rent  the  air.  The  Americans  heard  the  cheering  and  the 
music  of  the  bands. 

A  thunder-storm  came  on,  and  the  soldiers  were  chilled  by  the  rain. 
At  midnight  the  moon  came  out.  Santa  Anna  was  not  pleased  with  the 
position  occupied  by  Valencia,  and  sent  a  message  ordering  him  to  spike 
his  guns,  destroy  his  stores,  and  retreat  before  he  was  cut  off  from  the  main 
body  of  the  Mexican  army.  Santa  Anna  could  see  by  the  light  of  the 
moon  that  the  Americans  had  not  retreated,  but  were  ready  to  attack. 
General  Valencia,  in  his  pride  and  ignorance  of  generalship,  refused  to 
obey  the  order. 

"The  Americans  are  shut  up  among  the  lava-beds,  and  I  shall  anni- 
hilate them  in  the  morning,"  was  his  answer. 

At  the  little  village  of  San  Jeronimo  were  four  American  brigades — 
Smith's,  Cadwallader's,  Riley's,  and  Shields's.  Santa  Anna,  dissatisfied 
with  his  own  position,  retreated  in  the  darkness  toward  Chernbusco.  Day 
was  dawning  when  the  soldiers,  laying  aside  their  blankets,  took  their  posi- 
tion in  liner  crossed  a  little  brook,  rushed  up  the  bank  of  the  ravine,  and 
attacked  Valencia.  There  was  a  flashing  of  cannon  and  muskets,  bayonet 
thrusts,  and  clashing  of  swords.  Fifteen  minutes  and  the  battle  was  over; 
the  Mexicans  on  their  knees  begging  for  quarter,  or  fleeing  in  consterna- 
tion over  the  lava-beds  and  up  the  sides  of  the  mountain — Valencia  the 
foremost  in  the  flight.  The  Mexican  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prison- 
ers exceeded  three  thousand;  the  American  loss,  sixty.  Valencia,  in  his 
pride,  arrogance,  wilfulness,  and  incompetence,  had  lost  the  battle,  and 
the  Americans  were  at  liberty  to  move  on  toward  the  city. 

General  Santa  Anna  was  at  Chernbusco.  The  river  runs  from  west 
to  east,  and  the  road  to  Mexico  crosses  it  by  a  stone  bridge.  There  is  a 
convent  built  of  stone,  in  and  around  which  he  posted  his  troops  and  along 
the  bank  of  the  river.  He  planted  his  cannon  to  sweep  every  approach. 
North  of  the  bridge,  in  the  road,  were  his  reserves.  The  whole  Mexican 
army,  numbering  thirty  thousand,  were  in  position.  In  the  village,  around 
the  houses,  along  the  roadway,  were  groves  of  maguey.     In  the  fields  were 


1847.]  WAR   WITH   MEXICO— COXTIXUED.  345 

vegetable  gardens.  The  foliage  was  so  thick  that  the  engineers  conld  not 
see  how  the  Mexican  troops  were  stationed ;  the  army  must  feel  its  way. 
The  generals  only  knew  that  the  whole  Mexican  army  was  concentrated 
before  them,  and  that  there  was  to  be  a  desperate  battle ;  that  along  the 
banks  of  the  Ohernbnsco,  sheltered  by  the  cactus  hedges,  were  thousands 
of  Mexicans,  and  artillery  ready  to  sweep  every  road. 

Generals  Worth,  Pillow,  Cadwallader,  and  Twiggs  marched  from  the 
cluster  of  houses  at  San  Antonio,  straight  along  the  road;  Pillow  and 
Twiggs  turning  to  the  left  across  the  marshes ;  Cadwallader  going  straight 
toward  the  convent;  Generals  Pierce  and  Shields  marching  out  on  the  left 
to  the  little  village  of  Coyacan,  west  of  the  convent,  crossing  the  river,  and 
pushing  east  to  attack  Santa  Anna's  reserves  along  the  causeway  toward 
the  city.  It  was  a  very  bold  and  hazardous  movement,  but  one  which  had 
a  great  deal  to  do  with  determining  the  result  of  the  battle.  It  was  an 
attack,  front  and  flank,  on  an  army  three  times  as  great  as  the  force 
under  General  Scott. 

Very  stubborn  was  the  fighting.  The  convent  windows  were  sheets  of 
flame.  From  the  shelter  of  the  corn  in  the  fields  came  volleys  into  the 
faces  of  the  men  in  blue ;  from  the  maguey  hedges  poured  leaden  rain : 
from  the  Mexican  cannon  a  pitiless  storm  of  shells. 

Steady  the  advance  of  the  Americans.  Down  the  roadway  flew  the 
shells  from  the  American  batteries,  exploding  where  the  Mexicans  stood 
thickest.  Through  the  walls  of  the  convent  crashed  the  solid  shot,  scat- 
tering the  bricks — every  brick  a  missile  to  lacerate  and  destroy. 

Nearer  pressed  the  Americans — Captain  Taylor,  with  his  battery,  ad- 
vancing within  three  hundred  feet  of  the  convent.  Hours  passed.  The 
men  in  blue  were  falling  thick  and  fast.  The  decisive  moment  came. 
With  a  "  Hurrah !"  General  Worth's  troops  leaped  across  the  ditches,  cut 
their  way  through  the  hedges,  and  climbed  the  embankment  beyond.  The 
Mexicans,  taken  by  surprise,  threw  down  their  guns  and  fled  panic-stricken 
along  the  causeway,  through  the  reserves — which  in  like  maimer  are  seized 
with  panic  and  flee  in  consternation,  leaving  thirty-seven  cannon,  all  their 
wagons,  supplies  —  everything.  The  troops  in  the  convent,  finding  that 
they  are  deserted,  that  their  retreat  is  cut  off,  give  themselves  up  as 
prisoners. 

What  a  scene  is  that  along  the  causeway !  Twenty  thousand  fugitives, 
with  horses,  mules,  and  wagons,  wedged  into  the  narrow  road,  shot  and 
shell  tearing  through  them  from  Chernbusco ;  and  Shields  and  Pierce  cut- 
ting them  in  pieces  from  the  corn-fields  on  the  wrest !  Along  the  cause- 
way rode  Kearney's  cavalrymen,  their  sabres  gleaming  in  the  sun,  the 


346 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIV. 


horses  upon  the  run,  trampling  clown  the  fleeing  Mexicans,  pushing  on  al- 
most to  the  gates  of  the  city.  Two  Mexican  cannon  stationed  there  send 
charges  of  canister  into  friend  and  foe  alike.  Men  go  down  before  it  like 
grain  before  the  reaper. 

In  this  battle  General  Scott  lost  more  than  eleven  hundred  men ;  the 
Mexicans,  seven  thousand  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners. 

A  white  flag  came  out  from  the  city  with  a  proposal  for  an  armistice. 


CATHEDRAL    OF    MEXICO. 


It  was  agreed  upon,  August  20.  Sixteen  days  passed  in  negotiations  for 
peace.  But  the  Mexicans  were  not  ready  for  peace.  The  army  was  being 
secretly  reorganized.  Bells  were  being  taken  from  the  steeples  of  the 
churches  to  be  cast  into  cannon,  it  was  said,  at  Molino  del  Key  —  the 
King's  Mill— west  of  the  city,  close  by  the  Castle  of  Chapultepec.  General 
Scott  ordered  General  Worth  to  march  to  Molino  del  Rey  and  break  up 
the  machinery.  General  Worth  found  Molino  del  Key  to  be  a  stone  build- 
ing, with  loop-holes  in  the  walls,  defended  by  a  battery  and  by  a  large 
body  of  troops.     The  armistice  was  at  an  end.     The  Mexicans  were  ready 


1847.] 


WAR   WITH  MEXICO—  CONTINUED. 


34:7 


to  renew  the  strife.     General  Scott  had  only  eight  thousand  five  hundred 
men,  and  might  be  defeated. 

General  Worth  advanced  against  the  Mill,  not  expecting  much  resist- 
ance, but  soon  discovered  that  the  Mexicans  were  in  a  strong  position. 
The  Americans  were  repulsed  ;  and  the  Mexicans,  rushing  out,  barbarously 
put  the  wounded  to  death.  Re -enforcements  came,  and  after  a  sharp 
struggle  the  seven  hundred  Mexicans  were  taken  prisoners,  and  the  rest 
driven  to  the  shelter  of  the  strong  Castle  of  Chapultepec.  A  Spanish 
governor  built  it  for  a  castle  and  palace.  Under  the  Mexican  Republic 
it  had  become  a  military  school.  It  stood  on  a  hill  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  higher  than  the  surrounding  plain.  The  walls  were  of  stone, 
twelve  feet  high.  The  enclosure  was  nine  hundred  feet  in  length.  There 
were  eleven  cannon  on  the  walls.  Around  the  base  were  beautiful  groves, 
the  ground  laid  out  in  gardens,  with  walls  and  aqueducts.     Six  thousand 


PALACE    OF    MEXICO. 


men  defended  it.  To  capture  it  the  Americans  must  force  their  way 
through  the  groves,  disperse  the  Mexicans  stationed  there,  climb  the  steep 
hill,  set  ladders  against  the  walls,  gain  the  top,  and  drive  the  Mexicans 
before  them  with  the  bayonet. 


34S 


BUILDING  THE  NATION, 


[Chap.  XXIV. 


r 


BATTLE    OF    MOLINO    DEL    EEY.       (FROM    A    PRINT    OF    THE    TIME.) 


On  September  13  the  American  cannon  opened  fire.  When  all  MTas 
ready  the  troops  advanced.  Desperate  was  the  fighting  in  the  orchards 
and  gardens.  Inch  by  inch  the  Mexicans  were  driven.  The  storming 
party  quickly  placed  their  ladders  against  the  walls.  Lieutenant  Selden 
was  the  first  to  mount.  A  bullet  brought  him  down.  Lieutenant  Rog- 
ers and  Lieutenant  Smith  fell  dead,  with  many  of  the  men.  Captain 
Howard  was  the  first  to  reach  the  top  of  the  wall  unhurt     After  him 


1847.] 


WAR   WITH   MEMCO— CONTINUED. 


349 


swarmed  the  soldiers,  pouring  leaden  rain  upon  the  astonished  Mexicans, 
leaping  down,  charging  bayonets,  gaining  the  castle,  and  sending  up  such 
a  "  Hurrah !"  that  the  people  in  the  city  heard  it,  and  knew  that  the  Amer- 
icans— victors  in  every  battle  from  Palo  Alto  down  to  that  moment — were 
in  possession  of  Chapultepec. 

There  was  still  some  fighting  at  one  of  the  gates  of  the  city ;  but  the 
Mexicans  had  no  longer  power  to  resist.  On  September  14  the  army 
marched  in  and  took  possession  of  the  public  square  and  the  capital. 
General  Scott  had  less  than  seven  thousand  men  left.  In  every  engage- 
ment his  troops  had  been  victorious.  Bravery,  valor,  discipline,  superior 
civilization  had  won. 

While  General  Scott  had  been  moving  upon  Mexico,  General  Stephen 
W.  Kearney  had  left  Fort  Leavenworth  with  an  army,  marched  nine  hun- 


CilAPUI/l'liPEC. 


dred  miles  across  the  plains,  over  mountain  ranges,  reached  the  valley  of 
the  Rio  Grande,  captured  Santa  Fe,  and  organized  a  provisional  govern- 
ment for  New  Mexico.  He  started  for  California;  but  a  messenger  met 
him  with  the  information  that  Lieutenant-colonel  Fremont  and  Commo- 
dore Stockton  had  taken  possession  of  that  country. 


350 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIV. 


THE    ARMY    IN    MEXICO. 


On  February  2,  184S,  the  Mexican  Congress  concluded  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  the  American  Commissioners  at  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  surren- 
dering New  Mexico  and  California  to  the  United  States,  receiving  in  re- 
turn $15,000,000,  and  the  United  States  agreeing  to  pay  $3,500,000  to 
American  citizens  who  had  claims  against  Mexico. 

On  July  4  President  Polk  proclaimed  peace  between  the  two  countries. 
Thus  it  came  about  that  the  vast  region  from  the  Kio  Grande  to  the  Pa- 
cific, north  of  the  present  boundary,  was  added  to  the  United  States. 


1776.]  CAL1F0KNIA.  353 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

CALIFORNIA. 

IN  October,  1776,  while  Washington  was  getting  ready  to  drive  the 
British  out  of  Boston,  a  company  of  friars  from  Mexico  established 
a  mission  in  California,  which  they  named  afer  their  patron  saint — San 
Francisco.  They  built  a  church,  set  it  off  with  red  and  yellow  pictures, 
built  a  house,  a  blacksmith- shop,  granary,  and  a  store -house  of  bricks 
dried  in  the  sun. 

They  gave  the  Indians  rings  for  their  ears  and  red  blankets,  sprinkled 
them  with  holy-water,  and  set  them  to  work.  The  garden  seeds  flourished  ; 
cattle  multiplied  in  the  valleys — great  herds  which  ran  wild  ;  wheat  grew 
luxuriantly.  While  the  people  of  the  United  States  were  fighting  for 
independence  this  far-away  province  of  Spain  was  thus  being  settled. 

In  1807  a  strange  ship,  with  a  crew  wearing  seal-skin  coats,  came  down 
from  the  North  with  an  ambassador  from  the  Czar  of  Russia  on  board — 
Count  Yon  Resanoff,  from  Sitka.  lie  was  exploring  the  coast  with  the 
intention  of  founding  a  colony.  The  Spanish  Governor  of  California  had 
a  beautiful  daughter,  with  whom  the  count  fell  in  love ;  but  he  could  not 
marry  her  without  the  consent  of  the  Czar.  To  obtain  it  he  sailed  back 
to  Sitka,  then  across  the  Northern  Pacific  Sea  to  Kamtchatka,  and  started 
on  the  long  journe}7  through  Siberia  for  St.  Petersburg ;  but,  before  reach- 
ing there,  fell  from  his  horse  and  died  from  the  injuries.  When  the  sad 
news  after  many  months  reached  San  Francisco  the  governor's  daughter 
in  her  grief  became  a  nun,  and  spent  her  life  in  ministering  to  the  sick. 

The  Russians  had  established  themselves  in  x\laska,  and  intended  to 
take  possession  of  the  whole  west  coast  of  the  continent.  In  1812,  just  as 
the  war  between  England  and  the  United  States  was  beginning,  one  hun- 
dred Russians,  with  a  large  number  of  Indians  from  Alaska,  sailed  down 
the  coast  and  began  a  settlement  north  of  San  Francisco.  They  set  their 
traps  along  the  streams  for  otter,  and  speared  the  seals  that  climbed  upon 
the  rocks  along  the  coast.  They  married  Indian  wives,  built  a  village  of 
log-huts,  and  a  church. 

23 


354- 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXV. 


A  messenger  in  1822  reached  Monterey  with  great  news — that  Mexico 
had  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  Spain  and  had  become  independent.     What 


MAP   OF   CALIFORNIA. 


should  California  do?  The  generals  of  the  four  presidios,  two  captains,  a 
lieutenant,  and  the  bishop  met  at  Monterey,  and  agreed  to  own  allegiance 
to  Mexico. 

The  Indians  out  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  heard  that  the  white 


1845.]  CALIFORNIA.  355 

men  had  got  rid  of  their  chief  who  lived  beyond  the  sea,  and,  as  they  had 
a  chief  whom  they  also  wished  to  get  rid  of,  they  tied  him  to  a  stake, 
piled  brush  around  him,  and  roasted  him  to  death.  Then  they  danced 
for  a  week. 

"What  right  have  you  to  burn  your  chief?"  demanded  the  friars  of 
San  Francisco. 

"You  did  not  like  your  chief;  we  did  not  like  ours:  you  got  rid  of 
yours;  we  have  clone  the  same.  If  our  new  chief  is  not  good  we  will 
burn  him  too,"  they  said. 

The  Russians  were  tired  of  California.  There  was  no  winter.  The 
furs  which  they  obtained  were  of  little  value.  A  young  man  from  Switz- 
erland came  along,  John  A.  Sutter,  who  bought  their  land,  and  they  went 
on  board  a  vessel  and  sailed  back  to  Alaska,  to  enjoy  themselves  amid  the 
fogs,  ice,  and  snow  of  that  country. 

There  were  so  many  cattle  in  the  valleys  running  wild  that  the  mer- 
chants of  Boston  sent  their  ships  around  Cape  Horn  to  obtain  their  hides, 
which  were  taken  to  Massachusetts  to  be  made  into  leather  by  the  tanners 
and  curriers  of  Danvers,  and  into  shoes  by  the  shoemakers  of  Lynn. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  with  its  head  in  London,  its  foils  and 
trading-posts  all  over  the  north-western  section  o.f  the  continent,  intended 
to  control  the  trade  of  California,  and  established  themselves  on  the  coast. 
The  men  in  London  managing  its  affairs,  and  the  men  managing  the 
affairs  of  England,  were  looking  forward  to  the  time  when  England  would 
be  in  possession  of  all  the  country  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  but  their 
calculations  were  all  upset  by  the  agent  whom  they  sent  to  San  Francisco, 
who  drank  too  much  brandy,  neglected  his  business,  and  ended  his  life 
by  blowing  out  his  brains.  Just  about  the  time  he  did  it  some  of  the 
people  of  Missouri,  impelled  by  a  strange  desire  to  be  moving  somewhere, 
with  a  vague  idea  of  Uncling  a  land  of  riches,  comfort,  and  happiness,  re- 
gardless of  hardships  and  hostile  Indians,  left  their  homes  on  the  banks  of 
the  Missouri,  packed  their  goods  in  wagons  and  on  mules,  made  their  way 
across  the  prairies,  over  lofty  mountains  and  waterless  plains — a  long  and 
weary  journey  of  more  than  two  thousand  miles — and  became  citizens  of 
California. 

John  Charles  Fremont,  topographical  engineer,  in  18-45,  with  sixty-two 
men — Kit  Carson,  an  old  hunter,  their  guide — crossed  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains making  explorations.  Captain  Fremont  visited  Governor  Castro,  at 
Monterey,  California,  and  asked  permission  to  rest  a  few  days.  Leave  was 
given  him,  but  soon  countermanded,  and  he  was  ordered  to  leave  the  conn- 
try.     He  moved  toward  Oregon.     While  he  was  making  his  way  north  a 


356 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXV. 


JOHN    A.    SUTTKK. 


messenger  from  Mexico  reached  California  with  the  information  that  prob- 
ably war  would  soon  begin  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States. 

The  Americans  who  had  made  their  way  from  Missouri  to  California 
were  greatly  stirred  by  the  news.  They  did  not  like  the  Mexicans.  They 
were  only  a  handful,  but  on  July  14,  1S45,  they  formed  themselves  into 


1846.] 


CALIFORNIA. 


357 


a  military  company,  elected  Mr.  Merritt  captain,  seized  General  Vallejo  and 
all  the  other  Mexican  officers,  and  declared  California  independent  of  Mex- 
ico. For  a  flag  they  painted  a  black  bear  on  a  strip  of  white  cotton  cloth, 
and  flung  it  to  the  breeze  as  the  standard  of  the  Republic  of  California. 

Commodore  Sloat,  with  the  frigate  Savannah,  was  at  Mazatlan,  Mexico. 
The  British  ship  Colllngwood  was  also  there.  Commodore  Sloat  knew  that 
Great  Britain  wished  to  get  hold  of  all  the  country  from  British  Columbia 
to  Mexico,  and  he  also  knew  that  there  was  a  prospect  of  war  between 
the  United  States  and  Mexico.  He  was  instructed  by  the  Secretary  of 
War,  George  Bancroft,  not  to  wait  for  official  notice  of  a  beginning  of 
hostilities,  but  at  the  first  news  was  to  take  possession  of  California. 
From  rumors  that  came  to  him,  Commodore  Sloat,  July  7,  1846,  landed 

at  Monterey,  hoisted  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  fired  a  salute,  and  issued  a 
proclamation  that  California  was  a 
part  of  the  United  States.  He  sent 
word  to  Captain  Montgomery,  com- 
manding the  Portsmouth,  at  San 
Francisco,  who  also  raised  the  flag 
there.  Montgomery  sent  word  to  the 
men  that  had  raised  the  flag  with 
the  black  bear  upon  it,  who  pulled  it 
down,  hoisted  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
instead,  swung  their  hats,  and  fired 
their  rifles,  by  way  of  saluting  it. 

It  was  all  too  soon.     No  one  had 
any  reliable   news   that  war  had  be- 
gun, and  Commodore   Sloat  wished  that  he  had  waited  a  little  longer 
before  hoisting  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

Fremont  had  turned  back  from  his  march  toward  Oregon,  and  the 
Californians  joined  him.  A  few  days  later  Captain  Stockton  arrived  at 
Monterey  in  the  frigate  Congress ;  and  Commodore  Sloat,  wishing  to  re- 
turn home,  placed  Stockton  in  command,  who  determined  to  take  pos- 
session of  California  and  hold  it.  Fremont  joined  him.  Stockton  landed 
two  hundred  and  fifty  marines,  who  had  six  small  cannon,  and  with  Fre- 
mont marched  to  take  possession  of  Los  Angeles.  General  Castro  was 
there,  with  a  large  force  of  Mexicans. 

"The  town  will  be  your  grave  if  you  attempt  to  enter  it,"  was  the 
word  sent  by  Castro  to  Stockton. 

"Please  tell  General  Castro  to  have  the  bells  tolled  to-morrow  morn- 


JOHN    CHARLES    FRKMONT. 


358 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XXV. 


WHERE    THE    COLD    WAS    FOUND. 


ing  at  eight  o'clock,  for  at  that  hour  I  shall  enter  the  town/'   was  the 
answer  of  Stockton. 

Morning  dawned,  and  the  Americans  entered  the  town,  to  find  that 
Castro  and  the  Mexicans  had  fled.  There  was  a  little  fighting,  but  -the 
Americans  were  victorious  in  all  skirmishes,  and  the  Pacific  coast  from 
San  Diego  to  Oregon  was  added  to  the  Republic. 


1848.  J  CALIFOENIA.  '         359 

The  emigrant  from  Switzerland,  John  A.  Sutter,  who  had  bought  the 
land  of  the  Russians,  began  to  build  a  saw -mill  at  Golonia.  He  hired 
James  W.  Marshall  to  dig  a  ditch  to  carry  the  water  to  the  wheel. 

"I  wonder  what  that  yellow  stuff  is?"  said  Mr.  Marshall  as  he  threw 
up  a  shovelful  of  earth  in  which  there  were  yellow  particles  heavier  than 
earth.     "  I  wonder  if  it  is  gold  ?" 

"  I  guess  it  is  brass,"  said  one  of  the  workmen,  who  knew  very  little 
about  brass  or  anything  else. 

"  I  will  see  what  vinegar  will  do  to  it,"  said  Marshall.  He  put  the 
particles  into  vinegar,  but  they  suffered  no  change. 

It  was  on  January  19, 1848,  that  these  workmen  speculated  as  to  what 
the  "yellow  stuff,"  as  they  called  it,  was. 

"  I  am  going  to  San  Francisco,  and  will  see  what  they  say  about  the 
stuff  down  there,"  said  Mr.  Bennett,  who  went  to  San  Francisco  and 
showed  it  to  Isaac  Humphrey,  who  had  worked  in  the  gold-mines  of 
Georgia. 

"  It  is  gold,"  said  Humphrey,  who  went  to  Coloma  to  see  if  there  was 
any  more.  He  filled  a  tin  pan  with  earth,  washed  it  in  the  brook,  and 
discovered  particles  of  gold  at  the  bottom  of  the  pan. 

The  men  building  the  saw-mill  threw  down  their  tools  and  went  to 
whirling  tin  pans,  filled  with  earth,  in  the  brook.  Mr.  Sutter  laughed  at 
the  idea  of  there  being  gold  on  his  land.  He  was  angry  at  the  workmen 
for  leaving  his  saw-mill  unfinished. 

The  news  reached  San  Francisco,  a  village  of  twelve  hundred  people, 
many  of  whom  hastened  to  Sacramento  and  on  to  Coloma;  among  them 
the  editor  of  the  San  Francisco  Star.  He  saw  men  shaking  tin  pans — 
nothing  more.  Perhaps  he  expected  to  sec  nuggets  of  yellow  ore;  but 
there  was  nothing  that  looked  like  gold. 

"  It  is  all  a  sham,"  he  said  in  the  paper  the  next  week. 

"A  sham!  Oh  no;  here  is  half  a  pound  of  gold-dust  which  I  have 
just  purchased,"  said  a  man  who  had  set  up  a  jeweller's  shop  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. 

Everybody  who  came  from  New  Helvetia,  as  Captain  Sutter's  place 
was  called,  brought  gold-dust,  which  the  jeweller  bought  —  paying  four 
dollars  an  ounce.  The  news  spread.  The  carpenters  and  joiners  of  San 
Francisco  threw  down  their  tools;  the  blacksmith  let  the  fire  of  his  forge 
go  out;  clerks  in  the  stores  left  their  desks;  salesmen  dropped  their  yard- 
sticks; laboring  men  shouldered  their  shovels  and  started  for  the  "dig- 
gin's."  So  many  went  that  there  was  little  to  eat  at  New  Helvetia.  Some 
who  went  to  dig  gold  returned  to  scour  the  country  for  food.     Prices  be- 


500 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXV. 


gan  to  rise.  In  June  and  July  gold-dust  valued  at  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  was  received  at  San  Francisco.  Lieutenant  Beale  left 
Monterey  with  despatches  for  the  United  States,  crossed  Mexico,  and 
reached  Washington. 

"Rich  gold-mines  have  been  discovered  in  California,"  was  the  an- 
nouncement by  the  Baltimore  Sun,  September  20. 

The  news  was  flying  up  and  down  the  western  coast  to  Panama,  Cal- 
lao,  Valparaiso,  and   the    Sandwich  Islands.     Whale-ships  at  Honolulu, 


FINDING    GOLD. 


sailing  home  to  ISTew  Bedford  and  Kantueket,  carried  wonderful  accounts 
of  the  richness  of  the  mines.  Miners  were  making  fortunes.  Men  who 
never  had  a  dozen  dollars  at  a  time  in  their  lives  were  becoming  rich. 

Gold  !     In  all  ages  men  have  been   ready  to  sacrifice  ease,  comfort, 


1849.] 


CALIFORNIA. 


561 


happiness,  home,  friends,  everything  clear  to  obtain  it.  Soldiers  who  had 
marched  to  Mexico,  fought  at  Buena  Vista  and  Chapnltepec,  just  dis- 
charged from  the  army,  who  had  acquired  a  love  for  adventure,  started 
for  California.  The  news  spread  far  and  wide,  exciting,  as  nothing  else 
could  have  done,  the  people  of  every  State.  The  men  of  Missouri,  Illi- 
nois, Ohio,  and  Arkansas 'started  in  caravans  from  St.  Louis.  From  New 
York,  Boston,  Salem,  and  Baltimore  vessels  took  their  departure  laden  with 
beef,  pork,  flour,  tobacco,  whiskey,  shovels,  tin  pans — goods  of  every  descrip- 
tion— and  crowds  of  eager,  restless  men,  who  in  imagination  saw  the  ground 
yellow  with  gold,  and  fortunes  awaiting  those  first  on  the  spot.  •  A  gold  hun- 
ger seized  the  community.  "For  California"  read  the  signs  of  scores  of 
vessels  in  the  seaports.  By  February,  1849,  ninety  vessels  had  sailed,  carry- 
ing eight  thousand  men.  Seventy  ships  in  addition  were  preparing  to  un- 
furl their  sails  for  the  voyage  of  seventeen  thousand  miles  around  Cape 
Horn.  Bakers  could  not  supply  the  demand  for  ship-bread;  day  and 
night  their  ovens  were  glowing.  Tinsmiths  sat  up  nights  to  manufacture 
tin  pans.  Gunsmiths  could  hardly  supply  the  demand  for  rifles  and  pis- 
tols. The  hardware  merchants  could  not  fill  their  orders  for  picks  and 
spades.  Never  had  there  been  such  a  call  for  thick -soled  boots.  Com- 
panies were  formed  to  fit  out  expeditions.  Those  who  could  not  go  sub- 
scribed to  the  stock.  Those  who  went  and  those  who  helped  them  go 
alike  expected  to  make  their  fortunes. 


MINERS     CABINS. 


362  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXV. 

Newspapers  began  to  publish  wonderful  accounts  of  the  richness  of 
the  soil  in  gold,  stimulating  the  imagination  of  the  multitude  hungry  for 
gold.  Ministers,  seeing  their  parishioners  departing,  preached  against  un- 
due desire  for  wealth,  which  added  fuel  to  the  flame.  Sober-minded  men, 
who  at  the  outset  counselled  their  friends  not  to  go,  in  a  few  weeks  were 
themselves  on  the  way.  Ministers  who  had  preached  against  the  gold- 
fever  as  sinful  joined  the  increasing  throng  of  emigrants.  Men  who  had 
comfortable  homes,  well -cultivated  farms,  who  had  passed  the  prime  of 
life,  saw  in  imagination  the  banks  of  the  Sacramento  gleaming  with 
golden  sands ;  they  sold  all  for  what  it  would  bring,  and  made  their  way 
to  the  far-off  land  of  promise.  People  from  Mexico,  Pern,  Chili,  England, 
France,  Germany,  Ireland — energetic,  determined,  reckless  of  life — thieves, 
vagabonds,  ruffians,  gamblers,  joined  the  swelling  tide.  Into  the  Golden 
Gate  sailed  the  white-winged  ships.  By  midsummer  more  than  four  hun- 
dred vessels  were  lying  at  anchor  in  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco — most  of 
them  deserted.  The  sailors  had  run  away,  and  were  in  the  mines  or  at 
work  on  shore  on  their  own  account,  earning  more  in  a  day  than  they 
could  in  a  month  on  shipboard.  The  captain  might  command  them,  but 
was  powerless  to  compel  their  return. 

Over  the  mountains  streamed  a  long  line  of  weary,  worn,  poverty- 
stricken  men  ■ — hungry  for  gold,  more  hungry  for  bread.  Thousands 
di'opped  by  the  way  never  more  to  rise.  Their  comrades  laid  them  in 
shallow  graves  and  hastened  on.  From  the  Missouri  to  the  Pacific  shore 
the  route  was  marked  by  the  bleaching  bones  of  oxen,  mules,  and  men. 

Greater  the  hurly-burly  with  every  arrival.  San  Francisco,  which  had 
two  thousand  people  in  1848,  had  twenty  thousand  in  1849  —  a  city  of 
shanties  and  tents — a  jostling,  hurrying  crowd.  The  number  increased  so 
rapidly  that  in  October,  1S50,  California  was  admitted  as  a  State  to  the 
Union,  yielding,  between  1848  and  1856,  $500,000,000  in  gold. 


1777-1846.]  OREGON.  363 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

OREGON. 

XTTIIEN  Elizabeth  was  Queen  of  England,  and  England  and  Spain 
*  "  were  at  war,  Sir  Francis  Drake  captured  so  many  Spanish  vessels 
that  people  spoke  of  him  as  "singeing  the  beard  of  the  King  of  Spain." 
On  his  third  voyage  to  the  coast  of  South  and  Central  America  he  landed 
on  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  climbed  the  mountains,  and  beheld  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  lie  fell  upon  his  knees  and  thanked  God,  and  made  a  vow  that 
if  his  life  was  spared  he  would  navigate  its  peaceful  waters  in  search  of 
new  lands.  In  157S  he  sailed  from  England  with  five  ships — the  smallest 
of  fifteen  tons,  the  largest,  the  Golden  Hind,  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
tons.  Some  of  the  vessels  were  lost;  the  captain  of  another  turned  back 
to  England  ;  but  Sir  Francis  kept  boldly  on,  rounded  Cape  Horn,  captured 
many  Spanish  ships,  filling  the  Golden  Hind  with  gold  and  silver  from 
the  mines  of  Pern,  and  silks  and  satins  taken  from  Spanish  vessels  sailing 
homeward  from  China.  He  kept  on  northward  till  in  June  he  found  him- 
self in  a  broad,  deep  bay,  which,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  was  the  Bay 
of  San  Francisco. 

He  named  the  country  New  Albion. 

Two  hundred  years  passed,  during  which  Spanish  vessels  sailed  up 
the  coast  to  Mendocino,  and  on  to  the  Strait  of  Fuca  —  trading  with 
the  Indians. 

While  Congress,  in  Philadelphia,  1776,  was  issuing  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  Captain  James  Cook  was  sailing  from  England  with  two 
vessels — the  Resolution  and  Discovery. 

"You  are  to  proceed,1'  read  his  instructions,  "to  the  coast  of  New 
Albion,  and  explore  it  northward  to  the  Arctic  Sea,  and  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  country  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  England." 

lie  reached  New  Albion,  saw  a  point  of  land,  which  he  named  Cape 
Flattery.  lie  did  not  know  that  lie  had  sailed  past  the  mouth  of  a  great 
river,  or  that  the  inlet  at  Cape  Flattery  was  a  wonderful  arm  of  the  sea, 
running  far  into  the  land,  with  deep  bays  and  spacious  harbors.     He  sailed 


36± 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXVI. 


on  to  Nootka  Sound,  where  the  sailors  sold  their  old  clothes  to  the  Indians 
and  exchanged  buttons  and  knives  for  the  beautiful  fur  of  the  sea-otter — 
making  themselves  soft  beds. 

Captain  Cook  sailed  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  where  he  was  killed  by 
the  natives.     The  ship  kept  on  to  Canton,  in  China. 


I  <>     VICTORIA^     H    t^i\  ^  -  jA>!hw, 


MAP    OF    PUGKT    SOUND. 


To  the  astonishment  of  the  sailors,  the  Chinese  were  ready  to  pay  a 
great  price  for  the  furs  they  had  obtained  in  exchange  for  their  old  coats 
and  trousers — more  than  their  wages  for  the  entire  voyage  amounted  to. 

The  Resolution  and  Discovery  reached  England,  and  an  account  of 
the  voyage  was  published.  A  copy  of  the  book  fell  into  the  hands  of  Doc- 
tor Bulfinch,  who  lived  in  Bowdoin  Square,  Boston.     It  was  in  17ST.     His 


1777-1846.]  OREGON.  365 

near  neighbor,  Mr.  Barrel,  spent  an  evening  with  him,  and  Doctor  Bulfmch 
read  this  passage  from  the  interesting  volume : 

"  The  sea-otter  abounds  at  Nootka  Sound.  The  fur  is  softer  and  finer 
than  any  other.  The  shins  are  sold  by  the  Russians  to  the  Chinese  for 
from  sixteen  to  twenty  pounds  ($80  to  $100)  each." 

"  There  is  a  rich  harvest  to  be  reaped  by  those  who  first  go  into  that 
trade,"  said  Mr.  Barrel,  who  saw  that  by  sending  vessels  to  the  west  coast 
of  North  America  with  fish-hooks,  trinkets,  buttons,  knives,  red  and  yellow 
blankets  —  bright-colored  articles  —  and  exchanging  them  for  furs:  then 
sailing  to  China  and  exchanging  the  furs  for  silk  and  tea,  to-be  sold  in 
Boston,  much  money  might  be  made. 

Mr.  Barrel  laid  his  plan  before  several  of  his  friends,  who  joined  him 
in  fitting  out  the  ships  Columbia  and  Washington.  The  vessels  reached 
Xootka  Sound.  Captain  Kendrick  remained  with  the  Washington  on  the 
coast;  while  Captain  Gray,  with  the  Columbia,  sailed  to  China,  sold  his 
furs,  purchased  a  cargo  of  tea,  and  sailed  for  the  United  States  by  way 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

In  August,  1790,  the  people  of  Boston  saw  the  Columbia  sailing  into 
the  harbor — the  Stars  and  Stripes  flying  at  the  mast-head — the  first  vessel 
that  had  carried  the  banner  of  the  new  nation  around  the  globe. 

In  six  weeks  the  Columbia  was  once  more  on  the  sea,  sailing  around 
Cape  Horn  and  up  the  coast.  On  May  11, 1792,  Captain  Gray  saw  the 
white  waves  breaking  on  a  sand-bar,  where  the  waters  were  in  turmoil, 
waves  rolling  in — a  great  current  of  fresh-water  pouring  into  the  sea.  He 
crossed  the  bar,  and  found  himself  entering  one  of  the  great  rivers  of  the 
globe,  which  he  named  the  Columbia. 

The  Indians  flocked  around.  Captain  Gray  treated  them  kindly,  told 
them  that  he  came  from  Boston,  and  ever  after  the  Indians  called  the 
Americans  "  Boston  men." 

Captain  Gray  was  charmed  by  the  scenery — dense  forests  of  pine  and 
cedar,  lofty  mountains — Mounts  Baker,  Hood,  and  Rainer,  twelve  thousand 
feet  high,  their  summits  white  with  snow.  The  river  swarmed  with 
salmon. 

"  The  first  vessel  entering  the  mouth  of  a  river  gives  title,  by  right  of 
discovery,  to  the  territory  drained  by  all  the  tributaries  of  that  river." 

That  was  the  doctrine  of  Great  Britain  which  she  had  laid  down  and 
enforced.  Accordingly,  the  United  States  could  claim  all  the  vast  region 
of  the  North-west  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains  up  to  latitude  5-1°  40' — 
the  most  northern  source  of  the  Columbia. 

In  "Old  Times  in  the  Colonies"  there  is  a  chapter  upon  the  "Forces 


366 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXVI. 


of  Civilization,"  showing  among  other  things  how  the  desire  to  wear  soft 
and  beautiful  fur  has  been  a  great  force  in  the  history  of  our  country.  To 
obtain  furs  the  Dutch  settled  New  York,  the  French  Canada.  The  Eng- 
lish saw  how  the  Dutch  and  French  were  making  money  by  trading  with 


INDIANS    SPEARING    SALMON. 


the  Indians,  and  organized  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  which  Charles  II. 
chartered  in  1669.  The  North- west  Trading  Company  also  was  organized. 
Forts  and  trading-posts  were  built  all  over  Canada  and  the  country  east 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

When  Jefferson  was  President,  he  sent,  in  1804,  Captain  Lewis  and 
Captain  Clarke  up  the  Missouri  to  explore  the  country  which  had  been 
purchased  from  France.  They  were  to  cross  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
descend  the  great  river  which  Captain  Gray  had  discovered.  They  reach- 
ed the  country  of  the  Mandan  Indians — -where  the  Northern  Pacific  Rail- 
road now  crosses  the  Missouri — and  there  spent  their  first  winter.  North 
of  the  Mandans,  on  the  Assiniboine,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  a 
trading-house,  and  the  agent,  Mr.  McKenzie,  made  a  visit  to  Lewis  and 
Clarke.  He  had  sharp  eyes,  and  was  looking  keenly  after  the  interests 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.     He  sent  word  to  the  officers  in  London 


1777-1846.] 


OREGON. 


367 


that  the  country  beyond  the  mountains  on  the  Columbia  was  rich  in  furs 
— a  great  hunting-ground,  which  must  be  occupied  by  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  or  the  Americans  would  get  possession  of  it. 

Over  the  mountains,  through  the  country  of  the  Nez  Perces  (Pierced 
Noses),  Lewis  and  Clarke  made  their  way  down  the  great  river  to  the  sea, 
spending  their  second  winter  near  where  Captain  Gray  had  dropped 
anchor. 

In  1S06  the  ships  Vancouver  and  Pearl  and  the  brig  Zyclia,  all  from 
Boston,  were  in  the  Columbia,  trading  with  the  Indians.  Every  year  ves- 
sels entered  the  great  river,  the  Indians  always  welcoming .  the  Boston 
men. 

An  energetic,  far-seeing  man  in  New  York  was  turning  his  attention 
to  this  far-away  region — John  Jacob  Astor,  who  was  born  in  Germany  in 
1763,  and  who  when  he  was  sixteen  years  old  went  to  London,  where  he 
had  a  brother,  who  was  selling  violins,  flutes,  drums,  and  other  musical 
instruments.  The  boy  wanted  to  do  a  larger  business.  Why  not  go  to 
America?  He  crossed  the  Atlantic,  bought  furs  in  Montreal  or  wherever 
lie  could  find  them,  and  turned  over  his  money  to  such  good  advantage 
that  in  a  short  time  he  had  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  He  sent  the 
ship  Tonquin  to  the  Columbia.  A  trading-post  was  established,  which  was 
named  Astoria. 

Alas  for  the  ship  and  those  on  .board  !     It  was  commanded  by  Captain 


MOUNT    HAINKR. 


Thorn,  who,  against  the  orders  of  Mr.  Astor,  allowed  a  large  number  of  In- 
dians on  board.  Suddenly  there  was  a  terrible  yelling.  They  knocked 
Mr.  McKay  on  the  head  with  a  club,  killed  Captain  Thorn,  but  not  till 


SOS 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXVI. 


lie  had  killed  their  chief.  Mr.  Lewis  was  stabbed,  but  with  four  sailors 
reached  the  cabin,  barricaded  the  door,  seized  their  guns,  and  shot  so  many 
of  the  Indians  that  the  rest  fled  to  the  shore.  Night  comes,  and  the  four 
sailors  jump  into  a  boat,  intending  to  reach  Astoria.     Mr.  Lewis  will  not 


JIOUXT    BAKER. 


go  with  them.  He  has  another  plan.  Again  the  Indians  surround  the 
ship.  They  see  no  white  man.  They  climb  the  sides,  and  dance  the  deck 
in  frantic  joy.  Down  below  in  the  magazine  sits  the  wounded  man,  bid- 
ing his  time  to  be  revenged.  Hundreds  of  Indians  are  on  the  deck. 
There  comes  a  flash,  a  roar,  and  deck,  masts,  spars,  cannon,  boxes,  barrels, 
and  the  great  crowd  of  Indians  rise  high  in  air,  and  rain  down  into  the 
sea.  The  vessel  disappears,  the  waves  roll  over  the  scene.  Hundreds  of 
Indians  have  perished. 


1777-1846.]  OREGON.  371 

War  began  between  England  and  the  United  States.  Mr.  McDougal, 
whom  Mr.  Astor  had  taken  as  partner,  was  from  Canada,  lie  sold  Astoria 
to  the  North-western  Fur  Company  for  a  song.  A  British  ship  arrived  in 
the  Columbia  River,  pulled  down  the  Stars  and  Stripes  and  hoisted  the 
British  flag,  taking  possession  of  all  the  vast  territory  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  the  North-western  Fur 
Company  became  one.  They  built  forts  and  trading-posts  as  far  south  as 
San  Francisco,  intending  to  hold  all  the  country  for  Great  Britain. 

In  1832  four  strange  Indians  from  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains  made 
their  appearance  in  St.  Louis. 

"We  have  heard,"  they  said,  "of  a  wonderful  book  from  heaven,  and 
have  come  to  get  it." 

Who  told  them  ?  Had  a  trapper,  while  catching  beaver  along  the 
mountain  streams,  informed  them  that  what  made  the  white  men  so  power- 
ful was  a  book  given  by  the  Great  Spirit?  Or  had  they  learned  it  from 
the  Indians  who  lived  along  the  Missouri  ?  No  one  knows,  but  the  story 
had  gone  down  deep  into  the  hearts  of  the  Nez  Perces.  They  talked  about 
it  in  their  wigwams.  Long  was  the  journey  to  the  country  of  the  white 
men — more  than  two  thousand  miles — but  they  must  have  the  book.  A 
chief  and  four  warriors  started,  and  reached  St.  Louis. 

Captain  Clarke,  who  had  passed  through  the  country  of  the  Nez  Perces 
in  1805,  was  still  living  to  welcome  them.  He  took  them  to  his  church, 
and  also  to  the  theatre.     The  Indians  were  disappointed. 

"  We  come,"  said  the  chief,  "  with  one  eye  partly  opened ;  Ave  go  back 
with  it  closed.  Our  people  sent  us  to  get  the  book  which  came  down  from 
heaven.  You  took  us  where  we  saw  your  people  worship  God  with  can- 
dles: the  book  was  not  there.  You  took  us  to  see  your  women  dance:  the 
book  was  not  there.  Our  women  do  not  dance.  We  go  back  without  the 
book,  and  our  people  will  die  in  darkness." 

The  Indians  departed,  but  only  the  chief  reached  home  to  tell  the  tribe 
that  he  had  not  found  the  book ;  the  others  were  killed  by  hostile  Indians. 

"  A  strange  affair!  Four  Indians  from  the  Nez  Perces,  beyond  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  have  been  here  to  obtain  the  Bible,"  wrote  a  young  man 
in  St.  Louis  to  Mr.  Catlin,  in  Pittsburg,  who  had  been  out  among  the  In- 
dians of  the  far  West,  painting  their  portraits,  which  are  now  to  be  seen 
in  the  gallery  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  Washington. 

"  Is  it  true  what  I  hear?"  asked  Mr.  Catlin  of  Captain  Clarke. 

"It  is  true,"  Captain  Clarke  replied. 

Mr.  Catlin  told  the  story  to  warm-hearted  men;  and  when  Captain 
Wyeth  started,  in   1834,  with  a  caravan   to   open   trade  with  the  Indians 


372  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXVI. 

along  the  Columbia,  Jason  and  Daniel  Lee,  Cyrus  Shepard,  and  T.  L.  Ed- 
wards, sent  by  the  Methodist  Board  of  Missions,  accompanied  him  to  estab- 
lish a  mission  in  Willamette  Valley,  Oregon.  With  Captain  Wyeth,  also, 
were  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker,  of  Ithaca,  Xew  York,  and  Dr.  Marcus  Whit- 
man, of  Rushville,  Xew  York. 

Captain  Wyeth  built  a  trading-post  on  Snake  River,  and  named  it  Fort 
Hall.  The  Xez  Perces  heard  that  the  white  men  were  there,  and  came  to 
see  them.  One  of  the  Xez  Perces  was  named  Ish-hol-hol-hoats-hoats,  who 
could  talk  so  fast  and  so  well  that  the  Americans  called  him  "  the  lawyer." 
He  liked  the  Americans,  but  did  not  like  the  men  sent  by  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company. 

Mr.  Parker  went  with  him  to  explore  the  country  and  select  a  good 
place  for  a  mission,  while  Dr.  Whitman  turned  back  to  the  States,  to  find 
men  and  women  who  would  be  willing  to  brave  the  dangers  and  hardships 
of  the  wilderness  to  give  the  Bible  to  the  Indians. 

"  I  will  be  here  to  meet  you  next  year,"  said  Ish-hol-hol-hoats-hoats. 

Go  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  teach  Indians !  It  was  too  far  away, 
too  many  dangers  and  hardships,  were  the  objections  which  the  young  min- 
isters in  the  theological  seminaries  made  when  Dr.  Whitman  asked  if  they 
would  go. 

The  American  Board  of  Missions  was  establishing  a  mission  among 
the  Indians  in  Kansas,  and  Henry  Herman  Spalding,  of  Prattsburg,  Xew 
York,  near  Lake  Canandaigua,  who  had  just  married  Eliza  Hart,  of  the 
same  town,  were  going  there.  The  young  wife  was  tall  and  slender;  she 
had  mild  blue  eyes,  but  was  of  resolute  spirit. 

The  young  missionary  and  his  bride  had  bade  good-bye  to  their  friends 
and  were  on  their  way.  It  was  in  March,  and  the  snow  was  still  lying 
along  the  road ;  in  a  few  days  it  would  be  gone,  and  they  would  need 
wheels,  so  their  carriage  was  half  sleigh,  half  wagon — a  wagon  bodjT  on 
runners,  the  wheels  ready  for  use  at  any  moment.  They  were  riding 
westward.     Suddenly  they  heard  a  "  Halloo  !"  from  a  man  behind  them. 

"  I  want  you  for  Oregon."  It  was  Dr.  Whitman  who  had  called  to 
them. 

"  For  Oregon  !     How  long  a  journey  is  it  V 

"  The  summers  of  two  years." 

"What  convoy  shall  we  have?" 

"The  American  Fur  Company  to  the  mountains;  beyond  that  our- 
selves." 

"What  shall  we  live  on?" 

"  Buffalo,  till  we  can  raise  our  own  grain." 


1777-1846.]  OREGON.  373 

"  How  shall  we  go  ?" 

"  On  horseback." 

"  How  cross  rivers  ?" 

"  Swim  them." 

Mr.  Spalding  turned  to  his  wife. 

"My  dear,  my  mind  is  made  up,  but  will  leave  it  for  you  to  decide." 

They  rode  on  to  a  tavern,  and  the  young  wife  went  away  by  herself 
to  pray.  Hardship,  suffering,  privation,  danger,  sickness,  separation  from 
friends,  home,  all  dear  old  things — possibly  death  on  the  one  side ;  on  the 
other,  duty,  obligation,  carrying  the  Bible  to  those  who  had  called  for  it, 
lifting  the  degraded,  bringing  life  and  immortality  to  light,  their  earthly 
and  eternal  welfare. 

Out  from  the  tavern  chamber  came  the  woman — a  few  weeks  a  bride 
— with  a  glory  on  her  face. 

"  I  will  go." 

"  But  your  health  ?"  said  the  husband. 

"  I  take  the  command  just  as  it  stands— '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature.' " 

"  But  the  perils — you  don't  begin  to  know  how  great  they  are." 

"The  danger  and  the  weakness  are  His — the  duty  mine." 

"The  Indians  will  take  you  prisoner.  You  will  never  see  your  friends 
again." 

It  was  the  husband  who  was  weak.  Tears  were  rolling  down  his 
cheeks. 

"What  mean  you  to  weep  and  break  my  heart?  I  am  ready,  not  to 
be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die  at  Jerusalem,  or  in  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
for  the  Lord  Jesus." 

It  was  the  voice  of  Paul  echoing  down  the  ages.  It  was  settled.  Not 
Kansas,  but  Oregon,  was  to  be  their  home. 

Dr.  Whitman  rode  on  to  the  town  of  Angelica,  to  a  large  old  farm- 
house, where  a  fair  and  lovely  young  lady,  Narcissa  Prentis,  became  his 
bride.  A  few  weeks  later  and  the  two  young  men  and  their  wives,  with 
William  II.  Gray,  were  in  St.  Louis,  buying  horses,  two  wagons,  camp 
kettles,  tin  plates,  a  frying-pan,  dippers,  garden  seeds,  a  quart  of  wheat, 
and  such  things  as  they  needed  for  their  outfit. 

The  agent  of  the  fur  company  with  whom  they  were  to  travel  did  not 
want  to  be  bothered  by  missionaries  and  women,  and  purposely  left  them 
behind,  going  up  the  Missouri  by  steamer  to  Council  Bluffs.  He  had  been 
gone  five  days  when  the  missionaries  reached  that  outpost  of  the  frontier. 
They  started  on,  but  had  many  mishaps.     When  crossing  the  Missouri  in 

24* 


37-i  BUILDING   THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXVI. 

a  ferry-boat  a  cow  jumped  overboard,  and  Mr.  Spalding,  trying  to  prevent 
her,  went  head-foremost  into  the  river.  Their  cattle  ran  away,  and  they 
had  hard  work  to  collect  them. 

"  We  never  shall  get  there,"  said  Mr.  Spalding.  "  We  shall  have  to 
go  back." 

"  I  have  started  for  Oregon,  and  expect  to  get  there,"  was  the  reply  of 
his  intrepid  wife. 

The  traders  were  obliged  to  halt,  and  the  missionaries  overtook  them. 

Day  after  day  the  long  line  moved  on  over  the  treeless,  far-reaching 
plains. 

The  delicate  woman  who  had  been  so  resolute  to  go — Mrs.  Spalding — 
found  her  strength  failing.     She  reached  Fort  Laramie. 

"You  must  stop  here.  You  will  die  if  you  attempt  to  go  on,"  said 
Captain  Wyeth. 

"  I  started  to  go  in  the  name  of  my  Saviour,  and  shall  go  on,"  was  her 
reply. 

Far  away  she  could  see  the  peaks  of  the  mountains.  On  July  4 — 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the  nation — the  bugle  sounded  the  reveille, 
and  the  caravan  moved  on,  but  Mrs.  Spalding  was  too  weak  to  mount  her 
horse. 

"  Leave  me.     I  shall  die  here.     Tell  mother  I  am  glad  I  came." 

The  caravan  moved  up  the  long  swell  of  land  to  the  South  Pass — 
the  divide  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific.  The  missionaries  and 
the  fainting  woman  had  been  left  behind.  The  captain  was  troubled.  He 
could  not  go  on  without  them.  Back  over  the  prairie  rode  a  party  of 
horsemen  to  bring  them  on.  Mrs.  Spalding  had  gained  strength.  Once 
more  she  was  in  the  saddle.  They  reached  the  divide  where  the  caravan 
had  halted.  The  hunters  fired  their  rifles,  and  the  missionaries  kneeled 
upon  the  green  grass,  with  the  Bible  in  one  hand  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
in  the  other,  offered  prayer,  and  sung  a  hymn. 

They  were  on  the  western  boundary  of  the  territory  purchased  by  Jef- 
ferson from  Louisiana.  Who  owned  the  country  beyond  ?  The  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  had  its  forts  and  trading- posts  on  the  Columbia,  and  in- 
tended to  hold  all  the  vast  region  for  Great  Britain,  notwithstanding  Cap- 
tain Gray  had  discovered  the  Columbia.  These  two  intrepid  missionaries, 
on  the  sixtieth  anniversary  of  the  nation's  birthday,  kneeling  upon  the 
earth,  with  loyal  hearts,  fervid  prayers,  and  undying  faith,  in  the  name  of 
Almighty  God  took  possession  of  it  fur  the  American  people  for  all  com- 
ing time. 

Beyond  the  South  Pass,  on  Green  River,  whose  waters  flow  to  the 


1777-1846.] 


OREGON. 


377 


Gulf  of  California,  a  great  number  of  Indians  had  gathered,  among  them 
Ish-hol-hol-hoats-hoats  and  a  company  of  Nez  Perc.es,  who  had  come  hun- 
dreds of  miles  to  meet  the  men  and  women  who  were  bringing  them  the 
"Book"  which  had  been  given  by  the  Great  Spirit.  The  Nez  Ferces  women 
dug  strengthening  roots  for  Mrs.  Spalding.  The  Indian  fishermen  hastened 
to  the  streams  to  catch  the  speckled  trout.  They  shot  the  grouse  in  the 
wild  sage  that  she  might  have  something  sweet  and  tender  to  eat. 

The  caravan  reached  Fort  Hall,  the  point  for  which  it  had  been  fitted 

out.  Beyond  that  the  missiona- 
ries must  make  their  way  alone, 
accompanied  only  by  the  Nez 
Ferces. 

'  You   never    can    get   to   the 
Columbia  with  your  wagon  ;  you 
may  as  well  leave  it  here.     There 
are   impassable  mountains," 
said  the  agent  of  the   com- 
pany. 

Dr.  Whitman  thought 
differently.     He    would 
try.     On  over  the  dreary 
plains,    cutting    a    path 
through  sage-brush,  cross- 
ing rivers  in  boats  made 
of  buffalo  hides  stretched 
on  sticks,  they  made  their 
way  ;  and  on  November 
20  the   missionaries  and  their 
wives,  wagon,  and   horses  were  on   the 
banks  of  the  Columbia.     Dr.  Whitman 
built  a  house  at  Walla  Walla  with  the 
Cayuse  Indians,  while  Mr.  Spalding  went  on  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  miles  farther,  to  live  with  the  Nez 
Perces.     At   Fort  Vancouver  were   Mr.  Lee  and  his 
associates — not  teaching  the  Indians,  but  the  children 
of  the  men  employed  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 

The  agent  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  did  not  care  to  have  Ameri- 
cans settling  in  Oregon,  and  disturbing  their  profitable  trade  with  the  In- 
dians, who  never  could  comprehend  the  mystery  of  the  steelyard  in  weigh- 
ing furs,  or  how  it  was  that  the  Company  always  had  the  best  of  the  l>ar- 


MYSTERY    OF   THE   STEEL- 
YARD. 


378 


BUILDING  THE    NATION. 


[Chap.  XXVI. 


gain.  lie  wanted  only  French  Canadians  and  half-breeds,  who  would 
hunt  and  trap,  make  long  inarches,  live  on  small  pay,  and  be  dependent 
on  the  company,  and  who  would  hold  the  country  for  Great  Britain. 

Two  members  of  the  society  organized  by  Ignatius  Loyola  (see  "  Story 
of  Liberty  "),  Father  Blanchet  and  Father  Demerse,  made  their  appearance 

on  the  Columbia.  They  told  the 
Indians  that  the  missionaries  were 
heretics.  It  was  the  renewal  in 
Oregon  of  the  conflict  that  had 
drenched  Europe  in  blood  —  the 
conflict  of  two  religions  and  two 
civilizations. 

"  The  Boston  men  intend  to  take 
away  your  land,"  said  Demerse  to 
the  Indians.* 

"  We  do  not  come  to  take  away 
your  land,  but  to  teach  you  how  to 
cultivate  it,"  said  Dr.  Whitman,  who 
sowed  the  quart  of  wheat  which  he 
brought  from  Missouri,  gave  the 
Indians  garden  seeds,  showed  them 
how  to  till  the  soil,  and  cared  for 
them  when  sick. 

October,  1842,  came.  Dr.  Whit- 
man was  in  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  fort  at  Walla  Walla,  giving  medi- 
cine to  an  Indian.  The  agent  of  the  company  invited  him  to  dinner,  and 
he  sat  down  to  a  long  table  with  trappers  and  one  of  the  Jesuit  priests. 
A  messenger  entered  with  the  news  that  a  large  company  of  French 
Canadians  had  made  their  way  across  the  plains  and  mountains.  They 
had  come  to  make  a  settlement. 

"Hurrah!  The  United  States  are  too  late.  The  country  is  ours!" 
shouted  the  priest,  clapping  his  hands. 

The  United  States  too  late!  A  great  thought  like  a  lightning-flash 
came  to  Dr.  Whitman — that  there  wTas  a  deep-laid  scheme  to  hold  Oregon 
for  Great  Britain. 

"  We  have  got  possession  of  Oregon,  and  no  power  can  take  it  from 
us,"  said  the  agent  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  "Sir  George  Simp- 
son, Governor  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Territory,  is  on  his  way  to  Washington 


CAKE    FOR    A    SICK    INDIAN. 


*  Gray's  "  History  of  Oregon,"  p.  183. 


1777-1846.]  OREGON.  .  381 

to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  American  Government,  and  Oregon  will  be 
given  to  Great  Britain.  The  settlers  are  here ;  the  country  is  ours,  and 
you  cannot  prevent  us  from  having  it." 

"  I  will  see,"  was  Dr.  Whitman's  quiet  reply. 

Over  the  plains  of  the  Columbia  in  hot  haste,  his  horse  afoam,  he  rode 
on  that  afternoon.  A  great  thought  was  seething  in  his  brain — a  mighty 
resolve  taking  possession  of  him.  He  leaped  from  his  saddle  at  the  door 
of  his  log-house. 

"I  am  o'oino;  to  Washington,"  he  said. 

"  To  Washington !" 

"  Yes,  to  bring  settlers  to  Oregon,  and  show  up  a  deep-laid  scheme 
which  must  be  defeated." 

"You  cannot  get  there.  It  will  be  impossible  at  this  season  of  the 
year ;  you  will  perish,"  said  his  wife,  astounded  at  his  words. 

"  I  must  go.     Oregon  must  be  saved  to  the  United  States." 

Twenty-four  hours  later  he  is  on  his  way,  on  horseback,  with  a  single 
companion,  A.  L.  Lovejoy.  Their  rifles  are  slung  to  their  shoulders.  They 
have  provisions  enough  to  take  them  to  Fort  Hall.  Their  horses  must 
feed  upon  the  dried  grass.  They  have  no  tents;  the  earth  will  be  their 
bed  at  night.  Over  the  blue  mountains,  across  the  lava-beds  of  Idaho, 
swept  by  November  winds,  they  make  their  way — four  hundred  miles — to 
Fort  Hall  in  eleven  days.  From  there  it  is  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
south-east  to  Fort  Uintah.  A  trapper  guides  them  over  the  Uintah 
Mountains,  along  gloomy  defiles,  through  deep  canons,  across  treeless 
plains.  They  swim  rivers  filled  with  floating  ice.  They  are  in  a  country 
of  hostile  Indians,  and  must  be  ever  on  the  watch.  Terrible  storms  come 
on.  They  wade  through  deep  snows.  The  guide  loses  his  way.  For  ten 
days  they  wander. 

"  I  am  lost,"  said  the  guide. 

"  You  stay  and  feed  the  horses  on  cotton-wood  bark,  and  I  will  find 
the  fort,"  said  Dr.  Whitman. 

They  remained  in  a  cotton-wood  grove,  and  he  departed,  reached  the 
fort,  obtained  provisions,  fresh  horses,  another  guide,  returned,  and  pushed 
on  to  the  Grand  River,  which  farther  down  becomes  the  Colorado.  It  was 
six  hundred  yards  across  it,  and  the  water  frozen  far  out  from  the  shore. 
In  the  middle  the  current  was  sweeping  dark  and  deep. 

"We  cannot  cross  it,"  said  the  guide. 

"  We  will  try." 

The  doctor  mounts  his  horse,  and  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  the  guide  push  the 
animal  into  the  swirling,  ice-cold  stream.     The  current  bears  them  away. 


3S2 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXYI. 


Will  not  horse  and  rider  be  chilled  to  death  before  they  gain  the  other 

shore?     Terrible  the  suspense.     They  reach  the  ice  on  the  farther  side; 

the   doctor   springs  from   his   saddle,  the   horse   leaps    upward ;   they  are 

safe,     Mr.  Love  joy  and  the  guide  follow,  and  cross  in  safety.     They  kindle 

a  fire,  rub  their  horses  dry,  and  push 

!    on.     For  thirty  days  they  are  amid, 

"t  !    the  mountains,  threading  their  way 

*  7i&  -  a,=    ,J    along   the    gloom v   defiles    of    Colo- 

is  o 

rado,  killing  one  by  one  their  pack- 
mules  for  food,  climbing  lofty  moun- 
tains, wading  through  deep  snows, 
emerging  at  last  into  the  valley  of 
the  Rio  Grande,  finding  themselves 
at  Santa  Fe. 

On  the  coldest  day  of  the  year, 
January  13, 1843.  Dr.  Whitman  and 
Mr.  Lovejoy  and  their  guide  are  on 
the     mountains     between    the     Rio 
Grande  and  the  head-waters  of  the 
Arkansas    River.      The    cold    is   in- 
tense.    A  terrible  snow-storm  comes 
on.    Their  mules  refuse  to  climb  the 
steep  ascent.    The  travellers  see  their 
peril:  they  must  go  back  and  wait  till 
the  sturm  is  over.     They  attempt  to 
return,  but  their  tracks  are  covered 
by  the  whirling  snow.     Dr.  Whitman  commends  him- 
self to  the  care  of  Almighty  God,  and  lies  down  in 
the   snow,  never,  so  far  as  he   can  see,  to  rise   again. 
lias  he   come  so  far  to  perish  at  last?     Are  all  his 
heroic  efforts  to  save  Oregon  to  his  beloved  country 
to  result  in  failure?     The  guide  is  watching  his  mule.     He  notices  that 
the  animal  is  working  his  ears  in  a  peculiar  way. 
"The  mule  will  take  us  out!"  he  shouts. 

They  spring  to  their  feet,  give  the  mule  his  liberty.  Down,  down  they 
go,  through  deep  drifts,  along  frightful  precipices — the  mule  picking  its 
way  —  down  into  the  forest.  The  guide  falls.  Dr.  Whitman  and  Mr. 
Lovejoy  leave  him,  following  the  mule,  which  suddenly  stops,  and  they 
find  themselves  at  the  place  where  they  camped  the  night  before.  The 
brands  of  their  last  night's  fire  are  still  burning.    They  pile  on  fresh  wood, 


SCENE    IN    SANTA    FE. 


1777-1846.]  OREGON.  3S3 

warm  themselves  a  moment,  and  then  go  back,  and  bring  in  the  guide. 
The}7  chafe  his  frozen  feet  with  snow  and  wrap  him  in  their  blankets  till 
life  and  strength  return.  Day  after  day  the  storm  howls  through  the 
forest.  When  milder  weather  comes  they  climb  once  more  the  mountain- 
side, cross  its  lofty  summit,  descend  the  eastern  slope,  and  reach  Bent's 
Fort,  on  the  Arkansas.  Mr.  Lovejoy  is  so  exhausted  that  he  can  go  no 
farther;  but  after  a  few  days'  rest  Dr.  Whitman  is  in  the  saddle,  riding- 
down  the  valley.     A  few  weeks  later  he  is  in  St.  Louis. 

April  comes,  and  a  man  with  unshaven  face,  haggard,  worn,  emaciated, 
wearing  coat,  pantaloons,  and  cap  of  buffalo  fur,  stands  before  Daniel 
Webster,  Secretary  of  State,  at  Washington,  who  has  just  made  a  treaty 
with  Lord  Ashburton,  for  Great  Britain,  defining  the  boundary  from  Nova 
Scotia  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  No  mention  of  Oregon  is  made ;  the 
question  as  to  who  owns  it  is  left  unsettled. 

"  I  have  come  from  Oregon  to  lay  before  you  the  importance  of  secur- 
ing that  country  to  the  United  States,"  said  the  man  from  the  West. 

"  Indeed  !  But  Sir  George  Simpson,  Governor  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Territory,  informs  me  that  the  whole  country  is  of  little  value,"  said  Mr. 
Webster. 

"  I  have  lived  in  Oregon  six  years,  and  know  to  the  contrary.  It  has 
great  value." 

"  Sir  George  Simpson  informs  me  that  it  will  be  impossible  ever  to 
get  there  with  a  wagon." 

"  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  taken  a  wagon  there." 

So  runs  the  report  of  the  interview  between  Dr.  Whitman  and  Daniel 
Webster. 

John  Tyler  was  President,  and  Dr.  Whitman  hastened  to  see  him. 

"  I  have  made  my  way  from  Oregon  to  Washington,  braving  every 
danger,  to  prevent  the  consummation  of  a  scheme  which  will  give  one  of 
the  fairest  sections  of  our  country — which  is  ours  by  right  of  Captain 
Gray's  discovery  —  to  Great  Britain.  I  would  save  it,  with  its  mighty 
forests,  far-reaching  plains,  its  great  rivers,  its  unparalleled  resources,  to 
our  beloved  country." 

"Your  journey,  encountering  such  hardships  and  dangers,  is  a  con- 
vincing argument  of  the  value  of  that  territory.  You  shall  have  every 
encouragement  to  take  settlers  there,"  was  the  warm-hearted  response  of 
the  President. 

From  the  Missouri  westward  winds  a  train  of  two  hundred  wagons, 
and  a  company  of  eight  hundred  emigrants,  under  the  lead  of  Dr.  Whit- 
man,  escorted    and    protected    by   United    States   soldiers.     The    caravan 


384 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXVI. 


m 


reaches  Oregon.     The  emi- 
grants rear  their  houses,  tak- 
ing permanent  possesssion. 
It  was  in  1837  that  Dr.  Whitman  and  Mr.  Spald- 
ing and  their  wives  began  their  labors  among  the 
Indians.     Great  the  change.     Then  the  Indians  were 
living   in    wigwams,  without    a    hoe,  plough,  cattle, 
or  clothing,  except  the  skins  of  beasts;  living  on  fish   and  jerked   meat. 


THE    MOUNTAINS. 


1777-1846.] 


OREGON. 


385 


Ten  years  passed,  and  the  Indians  were  living  in  houses.  The  one  quart 
of  wheat  had  become  thirty  thousand  bushels  in  1847 ;  the  two  cows  had 
become  a  herd.  Sheep  were  feeding  on  the  hills.  Roses  and  flowers  of 
every  hue  were  blooming  in  the  gardens  cultivated  by  the  Indians.  From 
school-houses  came  the  sweet  music  of  five  hundred  children  learning  to 
read.  Their  language  had  been  reduced  to  writing.  A  government  had 
been  established ;  a  code  of  laws  adopted.  Sunday  was  a  day  of  rest  and 
worship.  Men  once  naked  were  wearing  decent  clothing.  Women  and 
girls  could  spin  and  weave.     Men  and  boys  had  learned  to  set  types  and 


JERKKD    MEAT. 


print  school-books,  a  code  of  laws,  a  Christian  hymnal,  and  the  Gospel  by 
Matthew.     In  ten  years  the  savage  had  become  thus  far  a  citizen. 

The  picture  changes.  "  The  Jesuit  priests "  (states  the  "  History  of 
Oregon,"  p.  367),  "co- laborers  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  did  not 
hesitate  to  poison  the  minds  of  all  who  would  listen  to  them  against  the 
Protestant  missionaries  and  all  their  efforts.  Neither  did  they  hesitate  as 
to  the  means  so  long  as  a  certain  object  was  to  be  accomplished.  .  .  .  The 
American  missionaries  and  settlements  must  be  driven  from  the  country. 
.  .  .  '  Dr.  Whitman  had  better  leave  the  country,  or  the  Indians  will  kill 
him.     We  are  determined  to  have  his  station,'  said  one  of  the  priests." 

The  blow  fell.  Dr.  Whitman  had  been  visiting  a  sick  Indian,  and 
was  sitting  in  his  own  house  reading  the  Bible,  when  an  Indian  came  be- 
hind him,  lifted  a  tomahawk,  and  buried  it  in  the  doctor's  skull.  It  was 
the  signal  for  the  massacre  to  begin.  The  Indians  rushed  upon  the  white 
people.     Mrs.  Whitman  was  kneeling  by  her  husband.     A  ball  pierces  her 

25 


3S6  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap,  XX Vi 

breast,  she  clasps  her  hands  in  prayer,  and  commends  her  soul  to  her  Sav- 
iour. Flashing  of  guns,  hacking  with  knives,  the  floor  thick  with  blood, 
a  heap  of  mangled  corpses,  houses  pillaged,  Indians  dancing  in  savage 
glee,  swine  devouring  trie  bodies  of  the  dead,  women  and  children  fleeing- 
in  terror — Jesuit  priests  and  agents  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  refus- 
ing them  shelter — that  the  scene  ! 

The  self-sacrificing  missionary,  the  true  patriot,  and  his  wife  are  dead, 
and  the  mission  broken  up;  but  the  conspiracy  has  a  different  ending 
from  what  the  priests  had  planned. 

Oregon,  thus  far,  had  been  under  a  joint  occupancy  by  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States;  the  time  had  come  to  end  such  a  state  of  affairs. 
Tiie  settlers  drove  the  Indians  to  the  mountains,  organized  a  government 
of  their  own,  elected  their  own  officers,  and  asserted  the  superior  authority 
of  the  United  States  over  the  territory — thus  finishing  the  work  begun  by 
Dr.  Whitman.  Through  his  patriotism,  hardship,  self-denial,  and  untiring 
zeal — through  the  energy  and  determination  of  the  settlers  upon  the  banks 
of  the  mighty  river — the  vast  domain  from  California  to  British  Columbia 
was  secured  to  the  United  States  forever. 


1848.1  COMPROMISE   OF   1850.  3S7 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

COMPROMISE  OF  1850. 

DURING  the  first  years  of  the  century  many  people  in  the  slave-hold- 
ing States  looked  forward  to  a  time  when  slave  labor  would  become 
unprofitable,  which  would  in  turn  bring  about  emancipation.  But  the 
world  was  calling  for  more  cotton.  Spindles  were  humming  in  Great 
Britain  and  New  England  as  never  before.  The  planters  were  increasing 
their  acres,  and  slaves  were  in  great  demand.  So  valuable  were  they  that 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  began  to  raise  slaves, 
just  as  a  farmer  raises  cattle,  sheep,  and  pigs  for  the  market.  Slave-trad- 
ers made  up  their  coffles  in  Baltimore,  Washington,  and  Louisville,  sepa- 
rating husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children — regardless  of  prayers 
and  tears— and  taking  the  slaves  to  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  New  Or- 
leans, the  great  slave-markets  of  the  South,  where  they  were  resold  to  the 
planters.  The  auction -rooms  were  large  halls.  The  slaves  stood  on  a 
high  bench,  wearing  very  little  clothing,  that  the  purchaser  might  see 
whether  the  men  were  strong  of  limb,  and  how  beautiful  of  form  were 
the  women  and  girls.  The  dealers  examined  their  mouths  to  see  if  their 
teeth  were  sound  or  to  ascertain  if  they  were  past  the  prime  of  life.  They 
handled  the  women  and  girls  indecently. 

From  the  auction-room  they  went  to  the  plantation  to  work  in  the  cot- 
ton-fields, beneath  the  broiling  sun,  driven  by  a  brutal  overseer  sitting  on 
a  horse,  with  a  whip  in  his  hand,  which  he  delighted  to  crack  over  them, 
or  to  bring  down  upon  the  back  of  any  one  that  lagged.  The  weak  and 
feeble  must  keep  up  with  the  strong  in  wielding  the  heavy  hoe.  When 
the  fields  were  snow-white  with  the  bursting  bolls  they  must  perform  their 
allotted  tasks  in  picking;  the  baskets  must  be  full  and  running  over:  the 
number  of  pounds  specified  for  a  day's  work  to  be  tipped  by  the  steel- 
yards, or  in  default  they  would  be  flogged. 

When  work  for  the  day  was  done  they  went  to  the  comfortless  cabins 
to  cook  their  supper  of  bacon  and  hominy,  sleeping  on  a  pile  of  straw, 
with  a  single  blanket  to  cover  them ;  to  be  aroused  in  the  early  morn- 


iSS 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XNV1I. 


ing  by  the  blowing  of  a  horn,  to  begin  again  the  dreary  round  of  unre- 
quited toil. 

For  them  no  joy,  no  hope  in  life.     The  heart  of  the  father  or  mother 
might  ache  for  children  from  whom  they  had  been  separated  in  Virginia, 


MUST  HAVE  THEIU  BASKETS  FULL. 


but  for  them  there  was  no  comforter.  At  the  bidding  of  the  master  the 
men  must  take  other  women  to  be  their  wives,  and  women  other  men  to 
be  their  husbands.  The  marriage  relation  could  be  made  or  broken  by 
the  master  at  any  time.     He  could  deal  with  them  as  with  his  cattle. 

The  planters  were  growing  rich,  and  with  wealth  came  increase  of 


1848.] 


COMPROMISE   OF   1850. 


589 


power.  They  looked  down  upon  the  poor  white  people — kept  poor  by 
coming  in  contact  with  slave  labor.  Work  was  a  sign  of  degradation. 
For  a  white  man  to  labor  was  to  put  himself  on  a  level  with  the  slave. 
Thus  there  came  to  be  a  class  of  poor  but  proud  people  who  spent  their 
time  at  the  groceries  or  lounging  around  the  county  taverns,  ever  ready  to 
take  a  drink  of  whiskey  when  invited  by  the  planters,  who  purchased  their 
votes  on  election-day.  With  no  opportunity  to  better  their  condition  in 
life  they  lost  all  ambition.  There  were  no  schools  for  their  children,  who 
grew  up  in  ignorance,  and  whose  chief  delight  was  to  visit  the  shire  towns 
when  the  judges  held  court,  or  attend  the  races  when  the  planters  and 
jockeys  tried  the  speed  of  their  horses. 

The  mechanic  arts  could  not  flourish  under  such  conditions.  Where 
labor  was  regarded  as  degrading  there  would  be  no  building  of  steam- 
engines,  founderies,  or  manufactories.  Without  education  there  could  be 
no  good  joiners,  carpenters,  or  blacksmiths.     When  human  beings  could 


be  bought  and  sold  there  would  be  no  employing  of  machines  to  do  the 
work  of  human  hands.  So  it  came  about  that  the  houses  were  little  bet- 
ter than  cabins  —  those  even  of  the  planters  being  poorly  constructed. 
The  wagons,  carriages,  stage-coaches  built  by  Southern  workmen  were 
rude  and  clumsy.  Ploughs,  hoes,  harrows,  boots,  shoes,  cloth,  pianos — all 
were  manufactured  in  the  Northern  States.     The  slave-holders  sneeringly 

25* 


390 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  NX VI I. 


called  the  working-men  of  the  North  "  mud-sills,"  because  they  were  at 
the  bottom  of  society. 

Instead  of  slavery  being  an  evil,  they  regarded  it  as  a  blessing. 
"  Slavery,"  said  the  Rev.  Dr.  Palmer,  of  New  Orleans,  in  a  sermon, 
''has  fashioned  our  modes  of  life  and  determined  all  our  habits  of  thought 

and  feeling,  and  moulded  the  very  type  of 
our  civilization." 

James  II.  Thornwell,  of  South  Carolina, 
doctor  of  divinity,  and  nearly  all  the  minis- 
ters in  the  Southern  States,  preached  that 
slavery  was  a  divine  institution,  ordained  of 
God  for  the  well-being  of  the  human  race ; 
that  slaver}7  was  honorable  and  a  necessity; 
that  it  had  come  from  the  patriarchs,  regu- 
lated by  the  law  of  Moses,  sustained  by  the 
prophets,  and  was  authorized  by  Jesus  Christ, 
because  it  existed  when  he  was  on  earth  and 
he  said  nothing  about  abolishing  it;  there- 
fore it  was  right.  Moreover,  the  Apostles 
upheld  it. 

"  We  must  teach,"  said  Mr.  De  Bow — not 
a  minister — "that  slavery  is  necessary  in  all 
societies,  to  protect  as  well  as  to  govern  the 
weak,  poor,  and  ignorant.  ...  To  protect  the 
weak  we  must  first  enslave  them.  .  .  .  Sla- 
very is  necessary  as  an  educational  institu- 
tion, and  is  worth  ten  times  all  the  common 
schools  of  the  North." 
With  the  increase  of  slaves  came  additional  political  power,  and  the 
slave-holders  looked  forward  to  a  time  when  they  would  make  themselves 
masters  of  the  whole  country,  controlling  the  government,  and  administer- 
ing it  in  the  interests  of  slavery.  The  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  war 
with  Mexico  were  brought  about  with  that  end  in  view. 

When  the  war  with  Mexico  was  over  the  President  sent  a  message 
to  Congress  for  an  appropriation  of  money  to  pay  for  the  territory  to  be 
acquired  from  that  country.  He  asked  for  two  million  dollars.  lie  had 
been  elected  by  the  Democratic  party,  which  controlled  Congress.  It  is 
customary  for  a  party  to  sustain  the  men  elected  by  the  party ;  but  in  free 
governments  those  who  make  laws  must  think  and  act  for  themselves,  or 
government  will  no  longer  be  free.     There  were  several  members  of  Con- 


POOR    BUT    PROUD. 


1848.] 


COMPROMISE   OF   1850. 


591 


jrress  belonging  to  the  Democratic 
party  who  were  thinking  for  them- 
selves on  a  great  question  :  Mexico 
had  abolished  slavery;  and  would 
it  be  right,  after  obtaining  territory 
from    that    country, 
to  prevent  the  intro- 
duction   of   slavery  ? 
Hannibal    Hamlin, 
of    Maine ;     Preston 


King,  of  New  York ;   and  David 

Wilmot,   of    Pennsylvania,    talked 

the  matter  over,  and  decided  that 

it  would  not  be  right  to  permit  the 

introduction  of  slavery  into  territory  once  free;  and  Mr.  Wilmot  moved 

that  the  bill  appropriating  money  for  negotiating  a  treaty  should  contain 

this  condition:  "Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall  ever  ex- 


392 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXVII 


ist  in  any  part  of  said  territory."     It  is  known  in  history  as  the 
proviso. 

The  position  taken  by  these  and  other  members  of  Congress 
assertion,  on  their  part,  that  they  would  think 
and    act  for   themselves   on  the   question  of 
slavery.      It  was  the  beginning  of  long  and 
heated  discussions. 

Little  did  General  Zachary  Tay- 
lor think,  when  he  saw  the  Mexicans 
retreating      from 
Buena  Vista,  leav- 
ing him  master  of 
the  field,  that  the 


Wilmot 


was  an 


VILLAGE    TAVERN    AND    STAGE-COACH. 


1848.] 


COMPROMISE   OF   1850. 


393 


A    PLANTATION    TEAM. 


American  people  would  reward  him  by  making  him  President,  but  he  was 
nominated  to  that  office  by  the  Whig  party.  In  the  Whig  newspapers  he 
was  called  "  Old  Rough  and  Ready,"  because  he  was  inured  to  the  hard- 
ships of  camp  life  and  was  always  ready  for  battle.  lie  was  inaugurated 
March  4, 1849  ;  but  died  of  fever  July  9,  and 
Millard  Fillmore  became  President. 

Things  had  come  about  very  strangely  in 
California.  The  far-off  region,  almost  un- 
known before  1849,  suddenly  swarmed  with 
people,  who  assembled  in  convention  and 
asked  to  be  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  free 
State.  The  gold-hunters  were  mostly  from 
the  Northern  States,  and  hated  slavery.  Cali- 
fornia a  free  State  !  The  slave-holders  would 
not  listen  to  such  a  proposition.  California 
was  south  of  the  southern  boundary  of  Mis- 
souri, which  had  been  adopted  as  the  boundary  between  slavery  and  free- 
dom in  1820.  Members  of  Congress  from  the  slave-holding  States  threat- 
ened to  dissolve  the  Union  if  slavery  were  excluded  from  California. 

In  the  Southern  States  there  was  no  deep  and  abiding  love  for  the 
Constitution.     The  Southern  people  exalted  the  rights  of  the  States,  and 


MILLARD    FILLMORE. 


39-1  BUILDING   THE   NATION.  [Ciiap.XXVIL 

accepted  the  doctrine  put  forth  by  Jefferson  in  1798,  that  the  Union  was 
only  a  compact  between  the  States  (see  page  118).  The  people  in  the 
States  which  had  abolished  slavery,  on  the  other  hand,  were  beginning  to 
see  that  under  the  Constitution  the  Union  would  in  time  become  the  great- 
est nation  on  earth.  Bitter  speeches  were  made  in  Congress,  and  articles 
were  published  in  the  newspapers  so  fiery  that  the  men  who  wrote  them 
were  called  "  fire-eaters.'' 

"  Slavery  is  a  great  moral,  social,  political,  and  religious  blessing,"  said 
Albert  G.  Brown,  of  Mississippi. 

•' Antislavery  men  are  the  outcasts  and  offscourings  of  the  earth — a 
pestilential  set  of  vipers  that  ought  to  be  destroyed,"  shouted  Mr.  Savage, 
of  Tennessee. 

"Georgia  should  march  to  Washington  and  dissolve  the  government," 
said  Governor  Troup,  of  that  State. 

A  compromise  was  proposed — to  admit  California  as  a  free  State,  and 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia — which,  it  was  claimed,  ought 
to  satisfy  the  people  of  the  free  States.  To  conciliate  those  who  were 
threatening  to  secede  from  the  Union,  it  was  proposed  to  pass  a  law  which 
would  enable  the  slave-holders  to  recapture  the  slaves  which  had  escaped 
into  the  free  States.  John  M.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  prepared  the  law  for 
recapturing  fugitives.  It  provided  that  the  master,  or  his  agent,  might  go 
into  any  State  or  Territory,  with  or  without  a  legal  warrant,  seize  the  fugi- 
tive, and  take  him  before  any  judge  or  commissioner,  who  must  examine 
the  proof  that  he  was  a  slave,  and  use  all  the  power  of  his  office  to  send 
him  back  if  he  had  ever  been  a  slave.  The  fugitive  could  not  say  a  word; 
his  evidence  must  not  be  admitted.  The  master's  oath  that  the  fugitive 
was  a  slave  was  sufficient  evidence.  The  sheriff  might  call  upon  any  citi- 
zen to  help  him,  and  the  citizen  must  obey  or  be  amenable  to  the  law. 
Democrats  and  Whigs  alike,  from  the  slave-holding  States,  threatened  to 
dissolve  the  Union  if  slavery  were  excluded  from  the  Territories. 

The  slave-holders,  the  members  of  Congress  from  the  Southern  States, 
claimed  that  the  Constitution  must  respect  and  protect  property  in  all 
States  alike.  If  they  could  not  recover  a  slave  escaping  to  another  State, 
just  as  they  would  a  horse,  they  were  deprived  of  their  constitutional 
rights.  If  they  could  not  have  their  rights  secured  and  enforced  under 
the  Constitution,  of  what  value  was  the  Union  ?  Mr.  Mason,  who  framed 
the  bill,  knew  that  the  non-slave-holding  States  could  not  be  compelled  to 
enforce  the  law,  but  that  the  United  States  courts,  judges,  marshals,  and 
commissioners — those  appointed  by  the  President — only  could  be  called 
upon  to  execute  it. 


1850.]  COMPEOMISE   OF   1850.  395 

Daniel  Webster,  who  had  favored  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  wanted  to  be 
President,  and  possibly  thought  that  if  he  were  to  advocate  the  passage 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  it  would  bring  peace  to  the  country,  and  that 
the  people  in  their  gratitude  would  elect  him  to  the  high  office.  He 
made  a  speech  in  favor  of  it,  wielded  all  his  great  influence  to  secure  its 
passage,  and  it  became  a  law  September  9, 1850. 

This  law  made  it  a  crime  to  aid  a  slave  to  escape,  and  it  was  also  a 
crime  to  refuse  to  aid  the  marshal  in  sending  a  fugitive  back  to  slavery. 
The  people  of  the  Northern  States  had  great  respect  for  law,  but  this  was 
antagonistic  to  all  their  instincts.  Some  of  the  people  of  Massachusetts 
informed  Daniel  Webster  that  it  was  odious,  hateful,  and  cruel. 

"You  must  conquer  your  prejudices,"  he  said. 

The  people  replied  by  holding  meetings  and  resolving  to  resist  the 
law,  in  obedience  to  the  higher  law  of  obligation  to  right,  justice,  and 
liberty.  The  law  carried  slavery  into  the  free  States,  made  it  national, 
and  they  were  determined  not  to  tolerate  it. 

Nineteen  years  had  rolled  away  since  the  imprisonment  of  the  young 
printer  in  Baltimore  for  writing  an  article  against  slavery.  The  world 
had  been  moving  the  while.  In  Europe  there  had  been  great  uprisings 
for  freedom,  while  in  the  United  States  moral  forces  had  been  quicken- 
ing the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men  for  a  larger  and  freer  life.  Me- 
chanical  forces,  inventive  genius,  the  employment  of  machinery  through- 
out the  Northern  States  to  do  the  work  of  human  hands,  the  arrival  of 
many  thousand  emigrants  from  Ireland,  Germany,  Sweden,  and  Norway, 
to  find  homes  in  the  Western  States  —  these  influences  combined  were 
lifting  the  Northern  States  to  a  loftier  plane  of  civilization;  while  the 
poor  white  people  of  the  South,  under  the  blighting  influence  of  slavery, 
wTere  sinking  to  a  lower  level. 

The  members  of  Congress  from  the  Southern  States  threatened  to 
dissolve  the  Union  if  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  not  executed.  Mer- 
chants in  New  York  and  Boston  trading  with  the  South  became  greatly 
alarmed,  and  organized  "  Union-saving"  meetings.  In  New  York  a  com- 
mittee of  one  hundred  was  appointed  to  solicit  money  to  aid  the  slave- 
catchers.  If  merchants  declined  to  sign  it,  their  names  were  put  upon  a 
black  list  and  sent  South,  to  notify  the  planters  not  to  trade  with  them. 

The  "Union-saving  Committees"  brought  their  influence  to  bear  upon 
learned  doctors  of  divinity  to  gain  their  support;  and  Moses  Stuart,  of 
Andover, Massachusetts,  and  Nathaniel  Taylor,  of  New  Haven,  professors  of 
theology;  Nathan  Lord,  President  of  Dartmouth  College;  Bishop  Hopkins, 
of  Vermont;  Nehemiah  Adams,  of  Boston  ;  Orville  Dewey,  of  New  York — 


390 


BUILDING  THE   NATIOX. 


[Chap.  XXVII. 


all  doctors  of  divinity  —  preached  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  must  be 
obeyed. 

Other  ministers  equally  learned  regarded  the  Bible  as  the  book  above 


HENRY    WARD    BEECHER. 


all  others  that  set  forth  the  equality  of  men — their  right  to  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness — and  preached  vigorously  in  favor  of  free- 
dom and  the  right  and  dut}7  of  the  people  to  resist  the  law. 

Of  those  who  wielded  great  influence  were  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  of 
Brooklyn,  and  Theodore  Parker,  of  Boston. 


1850.] 


COMPEOMISE   OF   1850. 


397 


"  When  we  have  ceased  to  pray,"  said  Mr.  Beecher,  "  when  we  have 
rooted  out  the  humanities  which,  since  our  connection  with  the  Gospel, 
have  been  growing  within  us — when  we  have  buried  our  Bibles  and  re- 
nounced our  God — then  will  we  join  with  those  whose  patriotism  exhibits 
itself  in  robbing  men  of  every  natural  right,  and  in  driving  them  from 
light  and  religion  into  heathenism." 

"  Why  shall  I  not  help  the  fugitive  ?"  asked  Richard  S.  Storrs,  of 
Brooklyn.     "  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  but  the  parchment  of  the  law. 


THEODORE  PARKER. 


But  where  will  this  parchment  be  when  I  meet  this  my  brother  in  the 
judgment?  Where  will  that  parchment  be  when  Christ  shall  say  to  me, 
'I  was  an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  no  meat?'  " 

Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  wrote  a  book  entitled  ''Uncle  Tom's  Cabin," 


398  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXVII. 

which,  above  all  other  books  produced  in  the  United  States,  was  influential 
in  moulding  and  directing  public  opinion.  A  theatre  manager  saw  that 
its  incidents  were  dramatic,  and  produced  it  as  a  play.  The  instincts  and 
sympathies  of  the  people  who  witnessed  its  nightly  performance  were  all 
on  the  side  of  the  slave.  They  clapped  their  hands  when  the  sturdy  farm- 
ers rushed  between  the  fugitive  and  the  slave-hunters,  keeping  them  at 
bay  with  pitchforks  and  pistols.  So  the  pulpit  and  theatre  became  allies 
of  freedom. 


1851-1859.]         ENFORCEMENT  OF  THE  FUGITIVE   SLAVE  LAW.  399 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

ENFORCEMENT   OF   THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAW. 

MORE  than  thirty  thousand  slaves,  it  was  claimed,  had  escaped  to 
Northern  States  and  to  Canada.  Those  in  Canada  were  beyond 
the  reach  of  their  masters ;  but  those  in  the  Northern  States  could  be 
taken  back  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

As  soon  as  the  law  was  passed  the  hunters  were  on  the  track  of  the 
fugitives.  At  Columbia,  Pennsylvania,  lived  a  colored  man  —  William 
Smith  —  who  had  a  wife  and  two  children.  Two  officers  came  to  take 
him,  and  when  he  attempted  to  run  one  drew  a  pistol  and  shot  him  dead. 
No  one  arrested  the  murderer,  and  nothing  came  of  it. 

As  the  testimony  of  a  negro  could  not  be  taken  under  the  law,  it  was 
easy  for  slave-hunters  to  arrest  free  negroes  and  sell  them  into  slavery. 

Two  kidnappers  from  Elkton,  Maryland,  went  to  the  house  of  Mr. 
Miller,  in  Nottingham,  Pennsylvania,  and  seized  a  colored  girl. 

"She  is  free,"  said  Mr.  Miller;  but  the  kidnappers  hustled  her  into 
their  wagon,  took  her  to  Baltimore,  and  locked  her  up  in  a  slave-pen.  Mr. 
Miller  followed,  brought  her  case  before  the  court,  and  the  judge  decided 
that  she  was  free.  Mr.  Miller  started  for  his  home,  but  never  reached  it  — 
his  lifeless  body  being  found  the  next  day  dangling  from  a  tree.  The 
kidnappers  had  murdered  him. 

John  de  Bee,  of  Norfolk,  learned  that  his  slave  Shadrach  had  fled  to 
Boston,  and  was  serving  for  pay  as  a  waiter  in  the  Cornhill  Coffee-house. 
lie  determined  to  recapture  him.  He  went  before  George  T.  Curtis, 
United  States  Commissioner,  and  swore  that  Shadrach  was  his  slave.  Mr. 
Curtis  issued  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Shadrach,  who  was  seized  by  the 
marshal  and  taken  before  the  commissioner.  The  news  flew  over  the  city. 
A.  crowd  of  colored  people  hastened  to  the  court- room.  The  marshal 
would  not  admit  them,  and  they  stood  upon  the  stairs.  Lewis  Ilayden 
gave  a  signal,  the  door  flew  open,  and  Shadrach  disappeared  in  a  twink- 
ling; and  neither  the  commissioner,  master,  nor  marshal  ever  saw  him 
airain.     In  a  few  hours  he  was  in  Canada. 


400  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXVIII. 

"What  is  to  be  done?"  was  the  question  telegraphed  to  President  Fill- 
more by  the  marshal ;  whereupon  Mr.  Fillmore  issued  a  proclamation  com- 
manding all  persons  —  citizens  as  well  as  civil  and  military  officers  —  in 
Boston  to  aid  and  assist  in  carrying  out  the  law ;  and  the  Secretary  of 
War  and  Secretary  of  the  Navy  were  also  directed  to  render  all  possible 
help. 

Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  was  greatly  shocked  at  what  had  happened, 
and  offered  a  resolution  in  the  Senate  calling  on  the  President  for  infor- 
mation upon  this  outrage.  "A  negro  mob,"  he  said,  "has  dared  to  lay 
sacrilegious  hands,  in  the  sanctuary  of  justice,  upon  the  very  sword  of 
justice  itself,  and  wave  it  over  its  officers  and  ministers." 

Mr.  Clay  had  claimed  that  the  slavery  question  was  settled — that  there 
would  be  no  more  discussion  ;  but  he  himself  was  discussing  it  more 
vehemently  than  ever.  Congress  might  as  well  have  resolved  that  Ni- 
agara should  stop  running. 

Lewis  Ilayden  and  live  others  were  arrested  and  tried  for  aiding 
Shadrach. 

"  I  saw,"  testified  one  witness,  "  Shadrach  helped  into  a  carriage,  which 
was  traced  over  Cambridge  Bridge  and  into  West  Cambridge,  where  he 
was  put  into  another  carriage  and  driven  to  Concord,  and  then  put  into 
a  wagon  and  driven  over  to  Sudbury." 

Eleven  of  the  jury  voted  Ilayden  guilty  of  aiding  Shadrach.  One 
juryman  —  Francis  E.  Bigelow  —  would  not  vote  to  convict.  The  court 
thought  it  strange,  for  the  testimony  was  clear.  Not  till  years  had  passed 
did  Francis  E.  Bigelow  tell  why  he  voted  as  he  did.  This  was  his  reason: 
"  I  myself  drove  that  wagon  over  to  Sudbury." 

Thomas  M.  Simms  was  a  fugitive  in  Boston.  His  master,  James  Pot- 
ter, came  from  Georgia  to  obtain  him,  and  had  him  arrested  first  for  steal- 
ing. Samuel  E.  Sewell,  a  lawyer  and  friend  of  the  slaves,  called  upon  the 
United  States  Marshal,  Patrick  Riley,  asking  when  the  trial  was  to  take 
place;  whereupon  the  marshal  had  him  arrested  and  put  into  the  watch- 
house.  To  keep  the  crowd  away,  and  to  prevent  any  attempt  at  rescuing 
Simms,  he  had  heavy  chains  put  around  the  court-house,  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  policemen,  with  clubs  in  their  hands.  The  judges  of  the  State  courts 
could  not  reach  their  rooms  only  as  the  policemen  lifted  the  chains,  and 
then  they  were  obliged  to  stoop. 

"He  must  go  back,"  said  the  commissioner.  At.  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  before  the  people  were  astir,  three  hundred  armed  policemen 
marched  him  to  Long  Wharf  and  put  him  on  board  the  schooner  Acorn, 
which  took  him  back  to  slavery. 


1851-1859.]         ENFORCEMENT   OF  THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAW. 


401 


Anthony  Burns  was  claimed  as  a  runaway  by  Charles  F.  Tuttle,  of 
Virginia.  Edward  G.  Lovering,  United  States  Commissioner  for  Boston, 
issued  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Burns.  There  was  a  consultation  among 
the  men  opposed  to  the  law. 

"  If  Burns  is  taken  from  Boston,  then  Massachusetts  is  a  conquered 
State,"  said  Wendell  Phillips. 

"  We  must  fight,"  said  Francis  W.  Bird. 

"  We  have  been  called  cowards,  and  if  we  permit  Burns  to  be  taken 
we  shall  rightly  bear  the  reproach,"  shouted  John  L.  Swift. 

"Virginia  reaches  her  arms  over  the  graves  of  our  mothers  and  kid- 
naps men  in  the  city  of  the  Puritans,"  were  the  words  of  Theodore 
Parker. 

The  marshal  had  sworn  in  a  great  number  of  rough  men  as  deputy 
United  States  officers,  and  placed  them  in  the  court-house,  to  prevent  a 
rescue.  A  crowd  gathered — friends  of  the  slave.  Among  the  white  men 
were  T.  W.  Higginson,  John  L.  Swift,  and  Albert  G-.  Brown.  They  seized 
a  timber  and  battered  down  a  door.  The  policemen  flourished  their  clubs 
and  drew  their  pistols,  rushed  upon  the  people,  driving  them  back;  but 
in  the  melee  one  of  the  policemen,  James  Batchelder,  was  unfortunately 
killed. 

"  The  evidence  is  clear  that  Anthony  Burns  is  the  property  of  Charles 
F.  Tuttle,"  was  the  decision  of  the  commissioners. 

Through  State  Street,  over  the  spot  where  Crispns  Attucks,  a  colored 

man,  was  shot  by  British  soldiers  in  behalf 
of  liberty  before  the  Revolutionary  War — 
within  sight  of  Faneuil  Hall — -marched  the 
soldiers  of  Massachusetts,  with  cannon,  pow- 
der, and  ball,  accompanying  the  policemen 
guarding  Anthony  Burns,  with  manacles 
upon  his  wrists  and  tears  upon  his  cheeks. 

President  Pierce  has   anticipated   what 
the    decision   will   be.      lie   will   show  the 
slave-holders  that  he  will  execute  the  law, 
and  has  ordered  the  revenue-cutter  Morris 
to  be  ready  to  take  Anthony  Burns  back  to 
Virginia.      The    slave -hunters    hear   hisses 
and  groans  from  the  multitude.     The   sol- 
diers executing  the  order  of  the  mayor  hear  them,  and  the  blood  mounts 
to  their  cheeks;  they  are  only  obeying  orders;  their  hearts  are  beginning 
to  throb  as  never  before  for  freedom. 

26 


FRANKLIN    PIERCE. 


402  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXVIII. 

"  Let  ns  pray." 

It  was  the  voice  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Foster:  and  the  crowd,  ceasino-  to 
hiss  and  groan,  stood  with  uncovered  heads  while  he  prayed  that  God 
would  be  with  the  slave  going  back  to  his  bondage,  and  that  the  event 
would  be  so  overruled  that  it  would  purify  and  redeem  a  country  that  was 
showing  itself  recreant  to  human  freedom.  Down  the  harbor  sailed  the 
vessel ;  back  to  their  counting-rooms  and  workshops  walked  the  people, 
more  than  ever  determined  to  resist  the  odious  and  iniquitous  law. 

A  slave-hunter  arrested  Joshua  Glover  at  Racine,  "Wisconsin,  who  re- 
sisted and  was  terribly  pounded.  The  marshal  took  hini  bleeding  to  Mil- 
waukee and  put  him  in  prison. 

The  people,  indignant  at  the  cruelty  of  the  marshal,  marched  to  the  jail. 
"Release  him!"  they  shouted.  The  marshal  had  no  idea  of  giving  him 
up ;  whereupon  they  battered  down  the  door,  released  the  slave,  and  sent 
him  to  Canada. 

The  slave-hunters,  determined  to  have  their  revenge,  arrested  Sherman 
M.  Booth  and  several  others,  but  were  baffled  by  the  decision  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  State,  which  decided  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  conferred  no  power  upon  Congress  to  legislate  upon  the  subject  of 
the  surrender  of  fugitives  from  labor.  ]STot  to  be  defeated,  the  slave-hunt- 
ers brought  a  suit  in  the  United  States  District  Court  of  Wisconsin,  which 
sentenced  Mr.  Booth  to  pay  a  fine  and  be  put  in  jail;  but  a  judge  of  the 
State  Court  issued  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  all  the  judges  of  the 
court  united  in  ordering  his  discharge,  and  the  people  escorted  him  home 
with  a  band  of  music,  flinging  their  hats  into  the  air. 

Very  different  was  a  scene  in  Cincinnati,  where  Margaret  Garner, 
rather  than  have  her  little  child  taken  back  into  slavery,  seized  a  butcher's 
knife  and  cut  her  daughters  throat  from  ear  to  ear.  She  was  tried  for 
murder,  but  the  judge  decided  that  the  claim  of  her  master  was  para- 
mount, and,  instead  of  being  punished  for  murder,  she  was  taken  back 
into  slavery  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

A  number  of  negroes  escaped  from  Kentucky,  and  built  their  cabins 
at  Young's  Prairie,  Michigan.  They  were  so  far  from  Kentucky  that 
they  felt  themselves  secure;  but  their  masters,  learning  where  they  were, 
determined  to  recapture  them.  Thirty  men  on  horseback,  with  two  large 
wagons,  started  for  Michigan.  They  intended  to  seize  the  fugitives  and 
carry  them  to  Kentucky  without  going  through  the  form  of  law.  One  of 
them  was  a  minister,  who  wanted  to  secure  his  former  slaves,  a  husband 
and  wife. 

At  night,  when  the  negroes  were  asleep,  the  slave-hunters  surrounded 


1851-1859.]         ENFORCEMENT   OF  THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAW.  405 

their  cabins,  breaking  down  the  doors.  There  were  desperate  struggles, 
but  the  slave-hunters  were  powerful,  and  soon  had  many  of  the  negroes 
in  irons.  The  minister  began  to  batter  down  the  door  of  the  cabin  occu- 
pied by  his  slave,  who  seized  a  stick  of  wood  to  defend  himself.  His  wife, 
leaving  him  and  her  babe,  crept  out  of  a  back  window  and  ran  to  the 
house  of  Zachariah  Shugart.  Zachariah  was  a  white  man,  a  Quaker,  who 
did  not  think  it  right  to  use  guns  and  pistols ;  but  he  dressed  himself  very 
quickly,  leaped  upon  his  horse,  and  flew  like  the  wind  down  the  road  to 
let  William  Jones,  the  blacksmith,  know  what  was  going  on,  who  in  turn 
aroused  all  the  neighbors. 

The  Kentuckians  the  while,  with  the  negroes  handcuffed  in  their 
wagons,  were  starting  for  home — the  minister  carrying  the  negro  babe  in 
his  arms.  The  child  had  been  born  in  a  free  State,  and  under  the  law  was 
free,  but  it  would  be  worth  two  hundred  dollars  in  Kentucky.  The  min- 
ister was  a  kidnapper  as  well  as  a  slave-hunter. 

Suddenly  the  caravan  came  to  a  halt,  for  in  the  road,  blocking  the 
way,  stood  William  Jones,  Stephen  Bayne,  and  their  neighbors,  armed 
with  pitchforks,  axes,  and  stakes.  The  Kentuckians  drew  their  pistols 
and  bowie-knives,  which,  instead  of  frightening  the  Michigan  people, 
made  them  more  determined  than  ever  to  fight. 

"  Charge  !     Kill  the  kidnappers  I"  shouted  the  blacksmith. 

The  Kentuckians,  finding  how  determined  the.  people  were,  and  know- 
ing that  they  were  kidnappers,  did  not  dare  to  lire,  and  the  blacksmith 
and  his  neighbors  compelled  them  to  march  to  Cassopolis,  to  answer  the 
charge  of  kidnapping. 

"  Get  off  from  that  horse,"  said  the  blacksmith. 

The  minister  obeyed,  and  he  had  the  farther  mortification  of  seeing 
his  own  slave  get  into  the  saddle,  with  the  help  of  the  blacksmith,  while 
he  had  to  walk  and  carry  the  babe  in  his  arms. 

"Here  is  the  man  who  kidnaps  babies!"  shouted  the  blacksmith  as  they 
marched  into  the  town.  The  people  laughed  and  jeered,  and  pointed  their 
fingers  at  the  minister. 

Instead  of  marching  proudly  back  with  their  slaves,  the  Kentuckians 
found  themselves  in  the  hands  of  the  sheriff,  who  inarched  them  off  to  jail 
for  kidnapping. 

When  at  last  they  got  out  the  negroes  were  all  in  Canada ;  their  long 
journey  had  been  for  nothing,  and  they  had  their  jail  fees  to  pay  besides. 
They  found  that  kidnapping  was  not  profitable  in  Michigan. 

The  law  became  more  hateful  than  ever  to  the  people  of  the  Northern 
States,  who  were  on  the  lookout  for  slave-hunters,  and  ready  to  help  the 


406  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXVIII. 

fugitives  on  to  Canada.  There  were  collisions  with  the  officers  of  the 
law  all  over  the  country,  and  disturbances,  which  set  the  people  to  think- 
ing more  earnestly  than  ever  upon  the  great  question  of  human  freedom. 

The  slave-holders  complained  that  the  law  was  of  no  benefit  to  them, 
for  it  cost  more  to  recover  slaves  than  they  were  worth.  It  was  dangerous 
to  own  a  negro  who  had  once  been  free ;  who  had  stories  to  tell  of  the 
sweets  of  freedom ;  of  friends  in  the  North  who  would  help  them  ;  of 
Canada,  where  their  masters  could  not  touch  them,  where  no  blood-hounds 
could  follow  their  track,  where  they  could  be  their  own  masters.  The 
neighboring  planters  objected  to  having  such  a  negro  near  their  planta- 
tions to  make  their  slaves  uneasy.  So  it  came  about  that  the  law,  while 
irritating  the  people  of  the  Northern  States,  was  of  no  particular  benefit 
to  the  slave-holders. 


1854-1859.]  KANSAS.  407 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

KANSAS. 

OVER  the  wide  prairies  west  of  Missouri  and  Iowa  onward  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  roamed  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Indians.  There 
were  no  white  men  except  hunters  following  the  buffalo  in  all  the  vast 
domain.  But  the  time  had  come  when  the  solitude  was  to  teem  with 
life.  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  introduced  a  bill  into  Congress  in 
1854  opening  the  lands  to  settlement. 

The  slave-holders  had  a  far-reaching  plan  to  make  Kansas  a  slave  State. 
To  do  so  they  must  first  bring  about  the  repeal  of  the  law  of  1S20,  which 
prohibited  slavery  in  Territories  north  of  the  southern  boundary  of  Mis- 
souri. If  that  law  were  repealed  the  people  of  Missouri  would  take  pos- 
session of  the  Territory,  with  their  slaves,  elect  two  senators  to  Congress 
and  representatives,  which  would  enable  the  slave-holding  interest  to  con- 
trol the  government. 

"  The  Missouri  Compromise,"  said  the  slave-holders,  "  is  wrong.  Un- 
der the  Constitution  wTe  have  the  right  to  go  to  Kansas  with  our  property. 
If  Northern  men  can  take  their  horses  and  cattle  to  Kansas,  we  have  the 
same  right  to  take  not  only  our  horses  and  cattle,  but  our  slaves,  for  the 
Constitution  makes  no  distinction  in  property.  We  are  unjustly  deprived 
of  our  rights.     The  law  must  be  repealed." 

Was  it  because  Stephen  A.Douglas  wanted  to  be  President, and  wished 
to  have  the  slave-holders  think  well  of  him,  that  he  wielded  all  his  powers 
to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  law  ?  Through  his  influence,  and  that  of  his 
friends  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  Northern  States,  the  law  was 
repealed.  The  people  of  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee, 
while  the  discussion  was  going  on  in  Congress,  formed  societies  and  lodges, 
calling  themselves  "  Sons  of  the  South,"  to  make  Kansas  a  slave  State. 

The  bill  organizing  the  Territory  of  Kansas  became  a  law.  Over  the 
wires  flashed  the  news ;  and  the  "  Sons  of  the  South,"  mounting  their 
horses,  hastened  to  Kansas,  selected  their  lands,  drove  down  their  stakes, 
and  rode  back  to  Missouri  again.     By  driving  down  their  stakes  they  had 


408 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIX. 


made  known  their  intention  of  being  settlers ;  and  when  the  time  came 
for  voting  would  be  at  the  polls,jthough  citizens  of  Missouri. 

Men  whose  souls  were  on  fire  with  the  great  idea  of  putting  an  end 
to  the  encroachments  of  slavery  on  soil  once  free  began  to  act.  In  Mas- 
sachusetts an  Emigrant  Aid  Society  was  formed,  with  Amos  A.  Lawrence, 


STEPHEN    A.   DOUGLAS. 


Eli  Thayer,  and  J.  M.  S.  Williams  for  its  trustees,  to  aid  and  assist  any 
one  who  would  emigrate  to  Kansas.  "Committees"  were  organized  in 
towns,  counties,  and  States,  raising  money  to  colonize  towns  in  the  new 
Territory.  A  national  committee  was  organized.  Among  its  members 
were  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois;  Gerrit  Smith,  of  New  York;  and 
G.  L.  Stearns,  of  Massachusetts.     The  first  party  of  Free-state  emigrants, 


1854-1659.] 


KANSAS. 


401) 


GERRIT    SMITH. 


from  Boston,  staked  out  a  town,  naming  it  Lawrence,  and  went  to  their 

new  homes  singing,  to  the  air  of  "Auld  Lang  Syne,"  a  song  written  by 

John  G.  Whittier : 

"  We  cross  the  prairies  as  of  oil 
The  Pilgrims  crossed  the  sea, 
To  make  the  West  as  they  the  East 
The  homestead  of  the  free. 

"  We  go  to  rear  a  wall  of  men 
On  Freedom's  Southern  line, 
And  plant  beside  the  cotton-tree 
The  rugged  Northern  pine. 


410  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXIX. 

"  We  go  to  plant  her  common  schools, 
On  distant  prairie  swells, 
And  give  the  Sabbaths  of  the  wilds 
The  music  of  her  bells." 

Among  the  emigrants  were  John  Brown  and  his  six  sons,  from  North- 
ern New  York,  who  selected  farms  at  Ossawattomie.  When  the  time  came 
to  hold  the  first  election,  David  R.  Atchinson,  Senator  in  Congress  from 


HOME    OF    WHITTIER. 


Missouri,  stirred  up  the  Missourians  to  invade  Kansas  and  vote;  and  sev- 
eral thousand  of  them  mounted  their  horses,  rode  into  the  Territory  armed 
with  rifles  and  revolvers,  and  voted. 

The  Leavenworth  Herald  announced  the  result: 

"All  hail!  Pro-slavery  party  victorious!  Come  on,  Southern  men; 
bring  your  slaves  and  fill  up  the  Territory.  Kansas  is  sound  ;  Abolitionism 
is  rebuked;  her  fortress  stormed  ;  her  flag  draggling  in  the  dust." 

The  pro-slavery  men  formed  a  "Vigilance  Committee"  to  send  all 
Free-state  men  out  of  the  territory. 

They  seized  William  Phillips,  who  would  not  leave,  shaved  his  head, 
stripped  off  his  clothing,  daubed  him  with  tar,  ripped  open  a  bed  and  rolled 
him  in  the  feathers,  mounted  him  on  a  rail,  and  sold  him  at  a  mock  auc- 


1854-1859.]  KANSAS.  411 

tion.  They  put  the  Rev.  Pardee  Butler  upon  a  raft  of  two  logs,  and  set 
him  adrift  in  the  Missouri. 

The  Legislature  elected  by  the  Missourians  voted  that  the  law  of  their 
own  State  should  be  adopted  entire — changing  the  words  "  State  of  Mis- 
souri "  for  "  Territory  of  Kansas."  To  make  Kansas  an  undesirable  place 
for  a  man  opposed  to  slavery,  they  passed  a  law  that  if  any  one  said  any- 
thing against  slavery,  or  if  found  with  a  newspaper  or  book  about  him 
that  said  anything  against  slavery,  he  should  be  imprisoned  two  years  and 
put  to  hard  work,  with  a  chain  and  cannon-ball  six  inches  in  diameter  riv- 
eted upon  one  of  his  ankles. 

Every  member  of  every  succeeding  Legislature,  every  judge  of  elec- 
tion, every  officer,  every  lawyer,  every  juryman  must  swear  to  uphold 
slavery. 

The  liberty-loving  settlers  determined  not  to  submit  to  such  a  code 
of  laws  forced  upon  them  by  the  men  who  lived  along  the  border  of  Mis- 
souri, and  who  became  known  as  "  Border  Ruffians." 

They  elected  delegates  to  a  convention  which  met  at  Topeka,  and 
formed  a  Constitution. 

"Drive  out  the  Abolitionists!"  It  wras  the  war-cry  of  the  "Ruffians." 
Armed  bands  invaded  the  Territory,  robbing  and  plundering  the  Free-state 
men,  shooting  Charles  W.  Dow,  and  murdering  in  cold  blood  Thomas  W. 
Barber.  Whittier,  far  away  on  the  banks  of  the  Merrimac,  recognizing 
him  as  a  martyr  to  freedom,  sung  his  requiem  : 

"Bear  him,  comrades,  to  his  grave; 
Never  over  one  more  brave 

Shall  the  prairie  grasses  weep, 
In  all  ages  yet  to  come, 
When  the  millions  in  our  room 
What  we  sow  in  tears  shall  reap." 

The  Border  Ruffians  claimed  the  lands  staked  out  by  the  Free -state 
men,  for  whose  arrest  warrants  were  issued. 

The  Governor,  Wilson  Shannon,  was  ready  to  do  what  he  could  to 
make  Kansas  a  slave  State.  He  ordered  out  the  militia  to  aid  the  marshal 
in  ejecting  the  Free-state  men,  who  organized  by  choosing  Charles  Rob- 
inson for  their  general.     They  would  fight  for  freedom. 

The  "Kansas  Aid  Committee"  purchased  rifles  and  ammunition  for 
the  settlers.  They  could  not  send  them  up  the  Missouri  River  on  steam- 
boats, for  the  Missourians  searched  every  boat,  and  they  were  sent  by 
teams  through  Iowa. 

A  pro-slavery  grand  jury  indicted  the  two  Free-state  papers  published 


412  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXIX. 

at  Lawrence;  and  the  deputy- marshal  of  the  United  States,  with  eight 
hundred  men  and  four  cannon,  marched  into  the  town,  destroj'ed  the 
printing-presses,  threw  the  type  into  the  streets,  set  Mr.  Eldridge's  hotel  on 
rlre,  and  pillaged  the  houses  of  the  people.  The  troubles  increased.  Some 
of  the  Free-state  men,  burning  to  avenge  their  injuries — seeing  that  the 
Governor,  appointed  by  the  President,  was  doing  what  he  could  to  help 
the  pro-slavery  men  —  took  matters  into  their  own  hands,  fell  upon  the 
Missonrians  at  Potawatamie,  and  killed  live  of  them.  The  Missourians,  to 
be  revenged  in  turn,  organized  a  company,  and  chose  Captain  Pate  as  their 
commander.  He  had  come  from  Virginia  to  help  make  Kansas  a  slave 
State.  He  crossed  the  boundary  with  fifty  men,  seized  John  Brown,  Jr., 
put  him  in  chains,  marched  him  across  the  prairie  beneath  the  hot  sum- 
mer sun — so  inhumanly  treating  him  that  he  lost  his  reason  and  became 
a  raving  maniac. 

John  Brown,  the  father,  heard  how  his  son  had  been  abused.  lie 
called  his  steadfast  friends  around  him,  and  organized  them  into  a  com- 
pany. There  were  twenty-seven  of  them.  They  came  upon  the  Missouri- 
ans in  a  grove  of  small,  scrubby  black  oaks,  which  the  settlers  called 
"Black  Jack,"  near  the  present  village  of  Palmyra.  Captain  Pate  saw 
them  approaching,  and  arranged  his  wagons  in  a  semicircle,  posting  his 
men  behind  them.  Captain  Brown  directed  twelve  of  his  company  to  at- 
tack in  front,  while  he  and  the  other  fourteen  were  to  gain  the  rear  of 
the  Missourians.  When  they  were  far  away  the  Missourians  began  to 
lire.  Captain  Brown  dropped  on  his  hands  and  knees  and  crept  through 
the  grass. 

"Take  good  aim.  Don't  waste  your  lire.  Don't  expose  yourselves," 
he  said  to  his  men. 

Their  rifles  began  to  crack,  and  the  lire  became  so  uncomfortable  that 
Captain  Pate's  men  began  to  run  away.  Some  of  Captain  Brown's  men 
also  ran.  Captain  Pate  had  been  very  valiant  when  he  invaded  Kansas; 
but  he  had  not  calculated  upon  being  attacked.  He  was  getting  tired  of 
lighting,  and  tied  his  white  handkerchief  to  a  stick  for  a  flag  of  truce. 
All  but  eight  of  Brown's  men  had  fallen  back;  but  with  those  he  marched 
up  and  took  Pate  and  twenty-two  men  prisoners,  twenty-three  horses,  all 
their  wagons,  guns,  and  supplies. 

Another  company  of  Missourians,  one  of  them  a  minister,  seized  one 
of  Captain  Brown's  sons,  shot,  then  stabbed  and  hacked  him  with  their 
knives,  and  tumbled  his  mangled  body  into  his  own  house  before  his  young 
wife,  who  from  that  moment  became  a  maniac. 

Little  did  they  know  what  the  outcome  of  that  ghastly  scene  would 


1854-1859.] 


KANSAS. 


413 


be1,  how  the  father  of  the  murdered  man,  transformed  from  that  moment, 
would  go  marching  down  the  ages — leader  of  Freedom's  hosts !  Captain 
Brown  attacked  them  at  Ossawattomie,  and  made  so  brave  a  fight  that 
people  called  him  "  Ossawattomie  Brown." 

Civil  Avar  had  begun.  Houses  were  pillaged  and  burnt,  men  shot  in 
cold  blood.  Everybody  carried  arms.  The  Missourians  stopped  all  steam- 
boats ascending  the  Missouri,  and  examined  all  the  passengers.     If  they 


CHARLES   SUMNER. 


were  pro-slavery  they  were  allowed  to  go  on,  and  if  Free-state  men  they 
were  turned  back.  John  W.  Geary,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  appointed  Gov- 
ernor, and  upon  reaching  Kansas  wrote  to  the  President  of  the  state  of 
affairs : 

"Desolation  and  ruin  reigned  on  every  hand.     Homes  and  firesides 


414 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIX. 


were  deserted;  the  smoke  of  burning  dwellings  darkened  the  atmosphere. 
Women  and  children,  driven  from  their  habitations,  wandered  over  the 
prairies  and  among  the  woodlands,  or  sought  refuge  and  protection  among 
the  Indian  tribes." 

A  company  from  South  Carolina,  under  Major  Buford,  bearing  a  red 
flao-,  with  the  motto, "  South  Carolina  and  State  Eights,"'  went  to  Kansas 
to  help  make  it  a  slave  State. 

There  were  heated  discussions  in  Congress.  Charles  Sumner,  Senator 
from  Massachusetts,  made  a  speech  on  the  ''crime  against  Kansas,"  which 

so  enraged  Preston  S.  Brooks,  member  of 
Congress  from  South  Carolina,  that  he  enter- 
ed the  Senate  Chamber,  where  Mr.  Sumner 
was  writing,  and  with  a  heavy  cane  pounded 
Mr.  Sumner's  head  till  he  fell  insensible  and 
bleeding  to  the  floor.  Mr.  Toombs,  Senator 
from  South  Carolina,  and  Mr.  Douglas,  from 
Illinois,  were  in  the  Chamber,  and  instead  of 
interfering  beheld  the  scene  with  evident  de- 
light. 

The  assault  created  great  indignation  in 
the  Northern  but  was  rapturously  applauded 
in  the  Southern  States. 

By  the  Northern  people  Mr.  Brooks  was 
called  a  "  ruffian  "  and  "  bully,"  while  the  Southern  people  regarded  him  as 
a  hero.  He  received  many  canes  as  presents  from  gentlemen,  many  floral 
gifts  from  ladies. 

The  Whig  party  had  dissolved,  and  the  Republican  party  was  organ- 
ized in  the  Northern  States  to  resist  the  aggression  of  slavery,  nominating, 
in  1S56,  John  C.  Fremont  for  President.  The  Democratic  party  elected 
James  Buchanan,  of  Pennsylvania. 

In  Kansas  the  struggle  between  the  Free-state  and  Slave-state  men 
was  still  going  on — the  Government  of  the  United  States  under  Franklin 
Pierce  and  under  James  Buchanan  wielding  its  power  to  make  it  a  slave 
State. 

Another  election  came  round,  and  a  great  number  of  Missourians 
marched  into  the  Territory  to  vote.  They  thought  it  a  good  joke  to  give 
their  names  as  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Horace  Greeley,  William  II.  Seward, 
James  Buchanan.  They  took  along  an  old  directory  of  the  city  of  Cin- 
cinnati, and  cast  one  thousand  ballots  on  names  which  they  read  off  to  the 
clerk  of  elections. 


JAMES    BUCHANAN. 


1854-1859.]  KANSAS.  415 

On  May  19,  1858,  on  the  bank  of  a  little  river,  Marais  des  Cygnes 
(Marsh  of  the  Swans),  three  miles  from  the  Missouri  line,  appeared  twenty- 
seven  Border  Ruffians.  The  settlers  were  ploughing  their  fields  in  peace. 
They  never  had  taken  part  in  the  troubles,  but  they  wanted  Kansas  to  be 
a  free  State. 

"  You  must  come  with  us,"  said  the  Border  Ruffians,  compelling  eleven 
of  the  men  to  go  with  them.  They  were  in  a  deep  ravine — the  men,  un- 
armed, offering  no  resistance. 

"Make  read}T !"  It  was  the  order  of  the  Ruffian  captain  —  Charles 
Hamilton.     "  Take  aim  !     Fire  !" 

Twenty-seven  rifles  and  revolvers  flashed.  Four  of  the  citizens  fell 
dead,  the  others,  all  but  one,  were  wounded.  The  murderers  rode  away ; 
but  their  thirst  for  blood  not  being  satisfied,  they  returned,  kicked  the 
dead,  fired  once  more  at  the  wounded,  and  then  galloped  back  to  Mis- 
souri to  boast  of  their  morning's  work.  The  news  of  the  appalling- 
atrocity  flashed  over  the  country,  stirring  once  more  the  soul  of  the 
peaceful  Quaker  poet  far  away  on  the  banks  of  the  Merrimac : 

"A  blush  as  of  roses, 

Where  roses  never  grew ; 
Great  drops  on  the  bunch-grass, 

But  not  of  the  dew ; 
A  taint  in  the  sweet  air 

For  wild  bees  to  shun ; 
A  stain  that  shall  never 

Bleach  out  in  the  sun." 

Into  Missouri  marched  John  Brown  and  the  little  band  of  men  who 
called  him  captain. 

"Would  you  like  to  be  free?"  was  the  question  which  he  put  to  the 
slaves.  Freedom !  No  other  word  so  sweet.  The  master  and  mistress 
might  be  kind,  they  might  have  plenty  to  eat,  but  they  would  leave  all 
for  freedom.  He  started  North  with  fourteen  negroes.  After  him,  in 
hot  haste,  rode  the  marshal  of  the  Territory  with  thirty  men — stimulated 
by  the  offer  of  three  thousand  dollars  reward  by  the  Governor  of  Mis- 
souri, and  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  by  James  Buchanan,  President, 
for  the  arrest  of  John  Brown. 

Toward  a  log-cabin  occupied  by  Brown  rode  the  sheriff,  but  suddenly 
halted,  for  he  saw  the  muzzles  of  rifles  peeping  through  loop-holes. 

"Come  on,  gentlemen,  if  you  wish  to,"  "was  the  hail  from  the  cabin — 
a  pleasant  voice,  with  no  bravado. 

But  the  sheriff  did  not  care  to  go  on,  neither  did  those  who  a  moment 


416 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXIX. 


before  had  been  very  brave,  they  rode  away  instead ;  and  when  night 
closed  in  the  negroes  were  marching  across  the  prairie  toward  the  North, 
never  again  to  call  any  man  master. 

The  slave-holders  saw  that  the  ordinance  of  1787.  prohibiting  slavery 
in  the  North-west  territory  (see  p.  21),  stood  in  the  way.  The  Supreme 
Court  could  decide  whether  a  law  MTas  or  was  not  constitutional.  The 
judges  decided  that  that  ordinance  and  the'  "  Compromise  of  1820,"  exclud- 
ing slavery  from  the  territory  north  of  36°  30', were  both  unconstitutional; 


WILLIAM    H.   SEWARD. 


that  Congress  had  no  power  to  prohibit  slavery  anywhere;  that  negroes 
were  not  citizens  of  the  United  States;  that  they  had  no  rights  which 
white  men  were  bound  to  respect. 

The  people  of  the  free  States  stood  appalled  before  the  decision.  They 
began  to  see  as  never  before  the  aggressions  of  slavery,  and  its  eternal 
antagonism  to  freedom. 

Abraham  Lincoln — born  in  a  log-cabin  in  Kentucky,  learning  to  read 
by  the  pitch-knot  fire  blazing  on  its  hearth;  who  had  wielded  the  axe 
and  beetle  in  cutting  down  trees  and  splitting  them  into  rails;  who  had 
paddled  a  flat-boat  on  the  Mississippi;  who  had  become  a  successful  law- 


1854-1859.]  KANSAS.  417 

yer,  loved  and  trusted  by  everybody,  kind-hearted,  a  man  of  the  people 
— addressed  his  fellow-citizens  of  Springfield  upon  the  great  question  of 
the  hour,  and  said  : 

"'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe  this  govern- 
ment cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  ex- 
pect the  Union  to  dissolve,  but  I  do  expect  it  will  come  to  be  divided. 
It  will  become  all  oue  thing  or  all  the  other." 

William  II.  Seward,  senator  from  New  York,  addressing  his  friends 
at  Rochester,  spoke  of  the  antagonism  between  slavery  and  freedom  as 
an  "  irrepressible  conflict." 

For  five  years — from  185-f  to  1S59 — the  struggle  in  Kansas  goes  on, 
till  the  slave-holders,  seeing  how  insecure  was  their  property  in  slaves — 
baffled  in  all  their  plans,  out-voted — gave  up  the  struggle;  and  Kansas, 
dedicated  forever  to  freedom  by  the  heroism  and  patriotism  of  her  sons, 
was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  free  State. 

27 


418  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXX. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE   UNDERGROUND   RAILROAD. 

IT  was  a  strange  railroad.  It  had  no  locomotive,  no  rails,  no  cars.  It 
ran  in  the  darkness.  It  was  invisible.  Its  operations  were  so  secret 
that  people  called  it  the  "  Underground  Railroad."  Its  charter  was  from 
Almighty  God — the  instincts  of  men  against  oppression  and  wrong;  the 
aspirations  of  the  human  race  for  liberty. 

The  Underground  Railroad  ran  from  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky, 
and  Tennessee — from  all  the  Southern  States — to  Canada.  It  had  no  cor- 
porate existence,  no  hoard  of  directors,  no  organization.  Levi  Coffin,  of 
Indiana,  had  the  name  of  being  its  President,  because  he  was  so  active  in 
carrying  on  its  operations.  He  was  born  in  North  Carolina.  When  he 
was  seven  years  old  he  saw  a  slave-gang — a  long  line  of  men,  women,  and 
children,  handcuffed  and  chained  together  to  prevent  their  escape,  driven 
by  a  man  on  horseback,  who  took  pleasure  in  bringing'his  heavy  cart-whip 
down  with  a  crack  upon  the  bare  backs  of  any  one  who  lagged  in  the 
weary  march.  There  were  tears  upon  their  cheeks,  for  husbands  and 
wives  had  been  separated  from  their  children  to  see  them  no  more  for- 
ever. 

"How  terrible  I  should  feel  if  my  father  were  to  be  taken  from  me!" 
was  the  thought  that  came  to  the  boy,  and  which  made  him  from  that 
time  on  to  the  end  of  life  a  friend  to  the  slave. 

Ilis  father  kept  hogs,  which  ran  in  the  woods ;  and  it  was  Levi's 
business  to  feed  them.  He  frequently  found  negroes  in  the  forest  who 
had  run  away  from  their  masters,  who  were  half  starved,  and  he  supplied 
them  with  food.  He  saw  that  on  the  side  of  the  slave-holders  there  was 
power;  that  the  slaves  had  no  comforter — their  only  solace  being  to  sing 
and  dance,  or  play  the  banjo  or  rude  fiddle  made  by  themselves  ;  that  those 
who  had  kind  masters  and  mistresses  were  liable  to  be  sold  any  moment ; 
that  slavery  was  a  system  of  iniquity. 

While  a  boy  he  aided  many  negroes  to  escape.  He  hated  slavery  so 
intensely  that  he  moved  to  Indiana  to  be  in  a  free  State.     Fugitives  soon 


1354-1859.] 


THE   UNDERGROUND   RAILROAD. 


419 


learned  that  there  was  a  man  in  Newport,  Indiana,  who  would  help  them. 
Slaves  all  over  the  South,  somehow,  had  learned  that  there  was  a  land 
called  Canada — far  away  under  the  north-star — where  all  men  were  free ; 
and  they  were  ready  to  endure  any  hardship  to  reach  that  country. 

The  laws  of  Indiana  had  severe  penalties  for  any  one  aiding  negroes 
escaping  from  slavery;  but  Levi  Coffin  planted  himself  on  the  Bible  and 
on  the  natural  rights  of 
men  ;  law  or  no  law,  he 
would  help  the  oppressed. 
He  has  written  this  in  re- 
gard to  his  operations: 

"  Three  principal  lines 
from  the  South  converged 
at  my  house :  one  from 
Cincinnati,  one  from 
Madison,  and  one  from 
Jeffersonville.  Seldom 
a  week  passed  without 
our  receiving  passengers 
by  this  mysterious  Under- 
ground Railroad.  We 
knew  not  what  night,  or 
what  hour  of  the  night, 
we  would  be  aroused  by 
a  gentle  rap  at  the  door, 
which  was  the  signal  of 
the  arrival  of  a  train ; 
for  the  locomotive  did 
not  whistle  or  make  any 
unnecessary  noise.  I 
have  often  been  awak- 
ened by  this  signal,  and 
sprung  out  of  bed  in  the 
dark,  to  find  outside  in  the  cold  or  rain  a  two-horse  wagon  loaded  with 
fugitives — perhaps  the  greater  part  of  them  women  and  children.  When 
they  were  all  safely  inside,  and  the  door  fastened,  I  would  cover  the  win- 
dows, strike  a  light,  and  build  a  good  fire.  By  this  time  my  Avife  would 
be  up  and  preparing  food  for  them,  and  in  a  short  time  the  cold  and  hun- 
gry fugitives  would  be  comfortable.  The  number  of  fugitives  each  year 
was  more  than  one  hundred.     Sometimes  fugitives  came  in  rags,  foot-sore, 


TIIEIlt    ONLY    SOLACE. 


420 


BUILDING  THE  NATION. 


[Chap.  XXX. 


toilworn,  and  almost  wild,  having  been  out  for  several  months,  travelling 
at  night,  hiding  in  cane-brakes  or  thickets  during  the  clay,  after  being  lost 
and  making  little  headway  at  night,  particularly  in  cloudy  weather,  when 
the  north-star  could  not  be  seen ;  sometimes  almost  perishing  for  food,  and 
afraid  of  every  white  person  they  saw,  even  after  they  came  into  a  free 


PLANTATION    SCENE A    NEG-KO    HUT. 


State,  knowing  that  slaves  were  often  captured  and  taken  back  after  cross- 
ing the  Ohio  River. 

"If  the  hunters  were  on  the  track  of  the  fugitives  they  were  hurried 
on  to  another  'station,'  for  the  'stations'  reached  all  the  way  to  Canada. 
Slave-hunters  often  passed  through  our  town,  and  sometimes  had  hired 
ruffians  with  them  from  Richmond  and  other  places.  They  knew  me  well, 
and  knew  that  I  harbored  slaves  and  aided  them  to  escape,  but  never 
ventured  to  search  my  premises  or  molest  me  in  any  way. 


1854-1859.]  THE   UNDERGROUND   RAILROAD.  421 

"  I  told  the  sympathizers  with  the  slave-traders  that  I  intended  to  shel- 
ter as  many  runaway  slaves  as  I  could,  and  advised  them  to  be  careful 
how  they  interfered  with  my  work ;  that  they  might  get  themselves  into 
difficulty,  if  they  undertook  to  capture  slaves  from  my  premises,  and  be- 
come involved  in  legal  prosecutions,  for  most  of  the  arrests  were  unlawful. 
I  would  have  them  arrested  as  kidnappers.  The  pursuit  was  often  very 
close.  Sometimes  a  company  of  fugitives  scattered,  and  were  secreted 
until  the  hunters  gave  up  the  chase.  At  other  times  they  were  hurried 
forward  with  all  speed.  It  was  a  continual  excitement  and  anxiety  to  us, 
but  the  work  was  its  own  reward." 

One  of  the  fugitives  aided  wras  Aunt  Rachel,  who  had  a  kind  master 
and  mistress  at  Lexington.  She  was  a  house-servant.  Her  husband  be- 
longed to  another  man.  They  had  several  children  ;  but  the  husband 
was  sold,  taken  South,  nor  did  Aunt  Rachel  ever  see  or  hear  from  him 
again.  Her  master  and  mistress  died,  and  she  and  her  children  were  sold. 
The  children  were  bought  by  people  in  Lexington,  but  their  mother  was 
purchased  by  a  slave-trader.  Ah !  the  agony  of  separation  ;  of  no  avail 
her  prayers  or  tears.  Her  pleadings  fell  on  stony  hearts.  To  white  men 
she  was  a  chattel — a  piece  of  property — nothing  more.  She  was  taken 
far  away  to  the  cotton-fields  of  Mississippi.  Not  knowing  how  to  pick 
cotton,  she  lagged  in  her  work.  Then  the  overseer's  whip  came  down  upon 
her  quivering  flesh,  and  the  blood  ran  in  streams. 

"If  you  can't  keep  up  you  shall  have  less  to  eat,"  said  the  overseer, 
cutting  short  her  rations  of  corn-meal  and  bacon. 

Her  heart  was  breaking.  In  her  lonely  cabin  at  night  she  thought 
only  of  her  children.     She  must  get  back  to  them. 

The  berries  were  ripening.  The  green  corn  would  soon  be  in  the  milk. 
She  must  get,  back  to  her  old  home.     The  north-star  would  guide  her. 

"To  stay  here  is  death.     I  can  but  die  if  I  go,"  she  said  to  herself. 

One  morning  the  overseer  missed  her.  She  had  travelled  far  during 
the  night.  When  day  dawned  she  secluded  herself  in  a  swamp.  When 
the  sun  went  down  and  the  north-star  blazed  out  in  the  heavens  she  was 
on  her  way.  Three  months  passed,  and  foot-sore,  weary,  haggard,  she  was 
back  with  her  children. 

"Of  course  she  will  go  there,"  said  her  master,  notifying  the  police, 
who  soon  had  her  in  jail.  Her  master  came  with  his  heavy  whip,  laid  it 
about  her  till  the  floor  was  thick  with  blood. 

"  That  is  only  a  taste  of  what  you  will  receive  when  I  get  you  back  to 
the  plantation,"  he  said. 

He  took  her  to  a  blacksmith,  who  riveted  an  iron  band  upon  her  ankles 


422  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXX. 

with  a  chain  and  a  six-pound  cannon-ball ;  he  then  pnt  her  in  a  wagon  to 
take  her  to  Louisville — right  toward  the  north-star. 

Ah !  that  love  that  springs  eternal  in  the  human  heart — love  of  lib- 
erty! How  it  has  nerved  men  in  prison,  upon  the  scaffold,  at  the  martyrs' 
stake ! 

It  was  late  in  the  evening  when  the  planter  rode  up  to  a  country 
tavern.  He  got  out  of  the  carriage  and  went  into  the  house,  leaving 
Aunt  Rachel  in  the  wagon.  She  gathered  the  ball  and  chain  in  her 
hands,  leaped  from  the  wagon,  and  crouched  by  the  roadside.  Her  master, 
when  he  came  out,  finding  her  gone,  never  thought  of  looking  so  near — 
she  could  almost  have  touched  him.  When  he  was  gone  she  made  haste  as 
best  she  could  through  the  woods.  To  get  rid  of  the  cannon-ball  she  laid 
the  chain  upon  a  rock  and  pounded  it  with  a  stone  till  one  of  the  links 
gave  way.  Now  she  can  run.  She  comes  to  a  slave-cabin  and  finds  shelter. 
The  negroes  themselves  are  slaves  and  ready  to  aid  her.  They  get  the 
manacles  from  her  wrists,  but  cannot  remove  the  riveted  band  upon  her 
ankle.  When  night  comes  the  negro  catches  two  of  his  master's  horses, 
puts  Aunt  Kadi  el  on  one,  mounts  the  other,  and  they  ride  northward 
toward  the  Ohio.  In  the  morning  the  horses  are  back  again  in  the 
pasture,  feeding  quietly,  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  Secreted  by  day, 
going  on  again  by  night,  Aunt  Rachel  makes  her  way,  every  step  marked 
with  blood  from  the  chafing  of  the  riveted  band  on  her  ankle.  She  finds 
another  slave  friend,  who  has  a  file,  who  cuts  it  off,  bathes  her  wound,  and 
goes  with  her.  At  midnight  they  behold  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  glowing 
in  the  starlight,  and  another  negro  ferries  her  across  the  stream,  directing 
her  to  negro  friends  upon  the  Indiana  shore.  At  last  she  is  on  the  Under- 
ground Railroad,  which  takes  her  to  the  home  of  Levi  Coffin,  and  on  to 
Canada  and  freedom. 

Many  white  men  in  the  Southern  States  did  not  like  slavery,  and 
wished  to  see  it  abolished.  John  Fairfield,  of  Virginia,  hated  it,  and  ran 
off  a  great  many  slaves  by  the  Underground  Railroad.  His  uncle  had 
a  bright  slave  called  Bill,  who  was  John's  playmate  in  boyhood.  When 
John  was  about  twenty  years  old  he  determined  to  visit  Ohio,  and  per- 
suaded Bill  to  take  one  of  his  master's  horses  and  go  with  him.  The  plan 
was  carried  out,  and  the  slave  became  a  free  man. 

When  John  returned  home  he  learned  that  his  uncle  was  intending  to 
arrest  him,  whereupon  he  ran  off  several  more  of  his  uncle's  slaves,  taking 
them  over  the  mountains  through  Northern  Virginia  to  Ohio,  and  on  to 
Canada.  He  was  bold,  daring,  reckless,  arming  himself  with  revolvers. 
The  slaves  very  quickly  discovered  that  he  was  their  friend.     He  wrent  to- 


1854-1859.] 


THE   UNDERGROUND   RAILROAD. 


423 


Kentucky,  pretended  to  be  buying  horses,  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
negroes,  met  them  at  night,  and  gained  their  confidence. 

"  Take  your  master's  best  horse ;  be  at  the  cross-roads  at  ten  o'clock," 
he  said  to  them. 

Ten  o'clock  came,  and  nearly  twenty  negroes  were  at  the  rendezvous 
on  their  masters'  horses.  Instead  of  riding  toward  the  Ohio  River,  Fair- 
field made  a  wide  circuit,  rightly  judging  that  the  men  who  would  be 
hunting  for  him  never  would  imagine  that  the  fugitives  had  ridden  south 
before  striking  north.     When  daylight  came  they  were  all  secreted  in  the 


TALKING    ABOUT    FREEDOM. 


woods.  They  had  ridden  nearly  forty  miles.  When  night  came  again 
they  left  their  horses  in  a  pasture,  took  other  horses,  and  reached  the 
Ohio  River  at  Maysville,  found  a  boat,  crossed  the  stream,  and  made  their 
way  to  Canada. 

There  were  negroes  in  Canada  who  had  fled  from  West  Virginia,  and 
who  importuned  Fairfield  to  bring  their  friends  out  from  slavery.  lie 
went  up  the  Kanawha  River  to  the  salt-works,  and  had  two  boats  built,  to 
be  loaded  with  salt,  which  he  intended  to  sell  in  Louisville.  lie  had  two 
free  colored  men  with  him,  who  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  slaves. 


■I2L  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXX. 

There  had  been  heavy  rains,  and  the  river  was  rising.  One  of  the 
boats  was  finished.  In  the  darkness  on  Saturday  night,  with  a  crowd  of 
negroes  on  board,  it  was  sweeping  down  the  river. 

Sunday  morning  dawned.  John  Fairfield's  boat  and  the  slaves  of  the 
neighborhood — ten  thousand  dollars'  worth — were  missing. 

The  next  night  the  other  boat,  loaded  with  fugitives,  disappeared. 

"  I  have  lost  two  boats,  and  am  ruined,"  said  Fairfield,  organizing  a 
party  to  recapture  the  fugitives.  "  We  will  overhaul  the  rascals  yet.  Let 
us  divide  and  scour  the  country."  The  pursuers,  with  rifles  and  pistols, 
separated  to  meet  at  an  appointed  place.  They  hunted  woods  and  fields, 
and  rode  to  the  rendezvous  to  meet  Fairfield  ;  but  instead  of  being  there 
he  was  riding  hard  in  the  opposite  direction,  overtaking  the  fugitives,  and 
conducting  them  to  Canada. 

From  Maryland  to  Missouri  slaves  were  constantly  escaping.  More 
than  twenty  thousand  reached  Canada. 

The  Underground  Railroad  aided  so  many  to  escape  that  the  slave- 
holders complained  that  they  were  being  systematically  robbed;  that  the 
Constitution  did  not  protect  them;  that  the  Northern  States  were  nulli- 
fying the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

"  Unless  we  can  be  protected  we  will  secede  from  the  Union,"  said  the 
slave-holders  in  Congress  and  in  the  Southern  newspapers. 

It  was  said  so  often  that  the  Northern  people  came  to  believe  that  they 
were  not  in  earnest. 

The  attempts  to  recapture  the  slaves  irritated  the  Northern  people. 
Several  of  the  States  passed  "personal  liberty"  bills,  which  made  it  diffi- 
cult for  the  slave-holders  to  recapture  the  fugitives,  and  which,  in  turn, 
made  those  who  wished  to  secede  from  the  Union  more  determined  than 
ever  to  bring  about  the  secession  of  all  the  slave-holding  States.  From 
1S56 — when  the  Republican  party  was  formed  to  resist  the  aggression 
of  slavery  —  to  I860  the  Secessionists,  while  doing  what  they  could  to 
make  slavery  national,  looked  forward  to  the  time  when,  no  longer  able 
to  rule,  they  would  destroy  the  Republic. 


1790-1860.]  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION.  425 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

PROGRESS    OF    INVENTION. 

SOOX  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  Congress  passed  the 
"  Patent "  law,  which  lias  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  developing 
the  nation. 

When  Elizabeth  was  Queen  of  England  she  granted  patents  to  her 
favorites — not  for  any  invention  in  machines,  but  the  exclusive  right  to 
manufacture  and  sell  certain  articles.  King  James  granted  many  such 
patents.  As  the  years  went  on  men  began  to  see  that  the  product  of  a 
man's  brain  ought  to  be  recognized  as  property  as  well  as  the  product  of 
his  hands. 

The  law  of  the  United  States  passed  in  1790  enabled  a  man  by  the 
payment  of  thirty  dollars  to  have  the  exclusive  use  of  any  invention  he 
might  make.  It  set  men  to  constructing  machines  to  do  the  work  of 
human  hands. 

In  1756  a  boy  was  born  in  Delaware — Oliver  Evans — who,  as  soon 
as  he  was  old  enough  to  hold  a  knife,  began  to  make  wind-mills  and 
water-wheels.  While  he  was  very  small  he  began  to  make  experiments. 
lie  obtained  an  old  gun-barrel,  put  a  little  water  into  it,  rammed  in  a  Avad, 
plugged  up  the  vent-hole,  put  it  in  a  blacksmith's  forge,  and  blew  the  bel- 
lows till  it  was  nearly  red-hot,  when  the  gun  went  off  with  a  bang.  Was 
it  powder?  Xo  ;  the  water  had  only  become  steam.  Oliver  was  delighted. 
He  supposed  that  he  had  discovered  a  new  force  in  nature.  He  began 
to  study  steam,  and  invented  a  steam-engine.  In  1787  he  applied  to  Con- 
gress for  a  patent  for  a  steam- wagon  and  a  steamboat;  but  the  request 
was  not  granted,  for  Congress  had  not  then  awakened  to  the  idea  of  giving 
men  protection  for  the  product  of  their  brains. 

"  I  have  no  doubt,"  he  said,  "  that  the  time  will  come  when  people  will 
travel  in  stages  moved  by  steam-engines  almost  as  fast  as  birds  can  fly — 
fifteen  or  twenty  miles  an  hour.  A  carriage  will  start  from  Washington, 
the  passengers  will  breakfast  at  Baltimore,  dine  at  Philadelphia,  and  sup 
in  Xew  York  the  same  day." 


426 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.XXXL 


The  human   race  was  mov- 
ing on  to  a  higher  civilization. 

Moral,  political,  social,  material  forces  unknown  in  past  ages  were  de- 
veloping in  all  civilized  countries,  especially  in  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain.  The  world  was  beginning  to  use  machinery.  Inventors 
were  thinking  and  planning.  James  Watt,  in  England,  had  set  the  steam- 
engine  to  work ;  steamboats  were  ploughing  the  waters  of  the  Hudson, 
the  Mississippi,  the  Ohio,  and  the  great  lakes.  England  had  few  steam- 
boats, because  she  had  no  great  rivers.  The  steamboat  belonged  to 
America.     Would  steamboats  ever  cross  the  Atlantic? 

The  learned  Dr.  Lardner  said,  "  I  will  eat  the  first  vessel  that  makes 
the  trip."  In  1819  a  vessel  that  measured  three  hundred  and  fifty  tons 
was  built  in  Xew  York  for  Mr.  Scarborough,  of  Savannah.     It  had  a 


1790-1860.]  PKOGEESS   OF  INVENTION.  427 

steam-engine  and  paddle-wheels".  Moses  Rogers,  who  had  been  captain 
of  Robert  Fulton's  Clermont,  was  captain  of  the  new  vessel,  which  was 
named  the  Savannah. 

On  May  26, 1819,  the  vessel  started  from  Savannah  for  Liverpool. 

"  It  never  will  get  there,"  said  the  doubters.  With  her  deck  piled  with 
pitch-pine  wood,  and  a  cloud  of  smoke  belching  from  the  iron  chimney, 
the  vessel  started  out  upon  the  ocean.  For  eighteen  days  and  nights,  till 
the  wood  gave  out,  the  engineer  kept  the  paddle-wheels  whirling;  then 
the  sails  were  set,  and  on  June  20  the  people  of  Liverpool  beheld  the  vessel 
sailing  into  the  harbor,  having  made  the  voyage  in  twenty -four,  days — the 
first  steamship  that  ever  crossed  the  Atlantic.  From  Liverpool  the  Savan- 
nah went  on  to  Copenhagen,  Stockholm,  and  St.  Petersburg.  The  people 
were  greatly  astonished  to  see  such  a  craft,  sailing  against  wind  and  tide. 
The  Savannah  left  St.  Petersburg,  on  her  return  home,  in  November,  and 
reached  the  United  States  in  safety. 

When  the  country  was  first  settled  very  little  attention  was  given  to 
the  laying-out  of  roads.  They  were  carried  over  high  hills  and  through 
deep,  valleys ;  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  the  Legislatures  of  the 
different  States  granted  charters  to  companies  for  the  construction  of  turn- 
pikes, allowing  those  who  built  them  the  privilege  of  charging  toll.  The 
turnpikes  were  more  direct, and  were  kept  in  better  order,  than  the  "town" 
highways.  As  the  population  increased  the  turnpikes  became  crowded 
thoroughfares.  Great  wagons,  drawn  by  six,  eight,  and  sometimes  ten 
horses,  rolled  along  the  way.  The  farmers  from  the  interior  made  jour- 
neys to  the  large  towns  along  the  seaboard,  carrying  their  butter,  cheese, 
chickens,  pigs,  and  apple-sauce  to  market,  returning  with  salt,  sugar, 
and  coffee.  Drovers  collected  cattle  and  sheep  from  the  pastures  on 
the  hills,  and  drove  them  along  the  dusty  roads  to  the  distant  towns  and 
cities. 

There  were  frequent  taverns,  where  the  travellers  rested  their  horses 
or  put  up  for  the  night,  making  the  acquaintance  of  other  travellers 
around  the  fires  blazing  in  the  bar-rooms. 

The  stage-coach  was  still  the  swiftest  means  of  conveyance.  Over  the 
hills,  through  the  valleys,  up  and  down  the  mountains — through  snow-drifts 
in  winter  and  mud  in  spring-time — the  stage-man  drove  his  prancing  team, 
carrying  the  mail,  stopping  at  every  post-office,  while  the  post-master  emp- 
tied the  bag,  looked  over  the  letters  and  newspapers  to  see  if  there  was 
anything  for  anybody  in  the  town — the  passengers  in  the  stage  impatiently 
waiting.  The  stage  could  only  make  seventy  miles  a  day.  The  world 
wanted  to  get  on  faster. 


428 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXI. 


H'k*^''--'       llr 


«.':« 


'  'if 


;*".„ ^...Al'.A 


OLD    WAY-SIDE    TAVERN. 


Oliver  Evans  had  made  the  first  steam-wagon,  but  the  roads  were  so 
rough  that  it  could  not  be  used. 

Mechanics  and  inventors  in  England  were  planning  how  to  use  steam 
on  roads.  Richard  Trevcthick  laid  iron  rails  on  the  ground  in  Torrington 
Square,  London,  and  constructed  an  engine  which  he  named  "  Catch-me- 
who-can."     The  people  were  surprised  to  see  it  fly  round  a  circle;  but  one 


1790-1860. j  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION.  429 

day  it  leaped  from  the  track  and  smashed  itself  to  pieces,  and  that  was 
the  last  of  it. 

It  was  discovered  that  a  block  of  granite  weighing  ten  hundred  and 
eight}'  pounds  required  a  force  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty-eight  pounds 
to  move  it  on  the  ground ;  on  a  plank  floor  it  required  a  force  of  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  pounds;  on  wooden  rollers,  three  inches  in  diameter, 
thirty-four  pounds;  and  on  wheels  on  iron  rails,  only  four  pounds.  John 
Stevens,  of  Hoboken,  jSTew  Jersey,  in  1812  appeared  before  Congress  with 
a  plan  for  a  railroad. 

"  I  can  see  nothing,"  he  said,  "  to  hinder  a  steam-carriage  from  moving 
on  its  ways  with  a  velocity  of  one  hundred  miles  an  hour." 

But  war  began,  and  nothing  was  done  toward  carrying  ont  his  plans. 

The  first  railroad  in  England  was  constructed  between  Liverpool  and 
Manchester.  It  cost  a  great  deal  of  money,  for  the  men  who  built  it  were 
obliged  to  make  a  deep  cut  through  a  hill,  build  a  high  bridge  over  a  wide 
valley,  and  make  a  circuitous  line,  because  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  did  not 
want  the  deer,  pheasants,  and  partridges  in  his  game-park  frightened  by 
the  rumbling  of  the  car-wheels;  and  he  was  so  powerful  that  he  compelled 
the  company  to  build  the  line  away  from  his  grounds. 

This  was  before  the  people  had  a  voice  in  Parliament,  and  the  great 
men  could  do  pretty  much  as  they  pleased. 

The  company  building  the  road  at  the  outset  expected  to  use  horses, 
but  decided  to  try  the  use  of  locomotives. 

People  shook  their  heads,  doubting  if  they  would  work. 

"  What  can  be  more  absurd  and  ridiculous,"  asked  a  writer  in  the 
Quarterly  JRevieiv,  "than  the  prospect  held  out  of  locomotives  travelling 
twice  as  fast  as  stage-coaches?  We  would  as  soon  expect  people  to  trust 
themselves  to  be  fired  off  upon  one  of  Congreve's  rockets  as  to  trust  them- 
selves to  the  mercy  of  such  a  machine  going  at  such  a  rate." 

"  If  a  cow  were  to  stray  upon  the  line  and  get  in  the  way  of  the  engine, 
would  not  that  be  a  very  awkward  circumstance  V  asked  a  member  of 
Parliament  of  George  Stephenson. 

"  Yes,  very  awkward  for  the  coo"  said  Stephenson,  who  was  a  Scotch- 
man and  had  the  Scotch  dialect. 

One  of  the  locomotives  was  planned  by  John  Ericsson,  a  young  man 
from  Sweden,  whom  the  world  has  heard  from  since  then,  and  who  has 
made  the  United  States  his  home.  It  was  called  the  "Novelty,"  and  ran 
twenty-eight  miles  an  hour,  although  it  weighed  only  three  tons. 

George  Stephenson  built  the  "Pocket,"  which  weighed  nearl}'  five  tons. 
It  was  more  powerful  than  the  "  Novelty,"  and  ran  twenty-nine  miles  an  hour. 


430 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXI. 


GEORGE    STEPHENSON. 


While  the  English  engineers  were  bringing  ont  their  locomotives 
Peter  Cooper,  of  New  York,  was  building  one,  which  was  used  on  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  making  eighteen  miles  in  less  than  an  hour. 
It  was  the  first  locomotive  constructed  in  the  United  States. 

A  railroad  was  opened  from  Boston  to  Lowell,  another  from  Albany 
to  Schenectady,  in  1831. 

With  the  construction  of  railroads  the  stage-coaches,  the  heavy  teams, 
and  the  way-side  inns  began  to  disappear.  Towns  once  stirring  and  popu- 
lous came  to  a  stand-still,  and  new  villages,  towns,  and  cities  sprung  up 
along  the  new  highways  of  travel : 

"  To  the  mossy  way-side  tavern 

Conies  the  noisy  throng  no  more ; 
And  the  faded  sign,  complaining, 
Swings  unnoticed  at  the  door." 


All  the  world  was  in  motion.     People  far  away  became  near  neigh- 


1790-1860.] 


PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION. 


431 


bors.  Men  who  had  been  wise  in  their  own  conceit  and  ignorance,  who 
thought  their  own  roof-tree,  their  own  village  and  town,  the  centre  of  the 
world,  began  to  discover  that  the  world  was  larger  than  they  had  dreamed. 

"Do  you  know  what  is  drawing  that  train  ?"  George  Stephenson  put 
the  question  to  a  friend. 

"  Why,  coal,  of  course." 

"We  call  it  coal,  but  it  is  the  stored  up  sunlight  of  the  primeval  ages," 
said  Stephenson. 

In  1810  Francis  C  Lowell,  of  Boston,  far-seeing  and  patriotic,  was  in 
England.     He  saw  how  that  country  was  beginning  to  manufacture  for 


THE    "KOCKKT. 


all  the  world  ;  how  manufacturers  and  merchants  were  becoming  rich  by 
selling  goods  to  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

"  The  time  has  come  for  America  to  do  her  own  manufacturing," 
he  said. 

In  1816  he  and  his  friends  started  a  cotton  manufactory  at  Waltham, 
in  Massachusetts.  The  Merrimac  River  was  running  to  waste.  From  the 
primeval  ages  the  sun  had  been  evaporating  the  water  of  the  Atlantic; 
the  winds  had  wafted  the  moisture  to  the  White  Mountains,  the  clouds 
precipitating  it  earthward,  and  gravitation  bringing  it  down  again  to  the 
sea.     Through  all  the  years  this  energy  of  nature  had  been  of  no  account; 


432 


BUILDING   THE    NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXI. 


but  in  1S23  Mr.  Lowell  and  his  friends  set  it  to  work — turning  water- 
wheels,  whirling  spindles,  and  throwing  shuttles.  The  girls  who  had  been 
spinning  and  carding  in  their  country  homes  laid  aside  the  hand-cards  and 
the  spinning-wheel,  with  which  they  could  earn  but  fifty  cents  a  week,  and 
found  employment  in  the  manufactory,  where  they  could  earn,  not  only 
their  board,  but  three  dollars  a  week  in  addition. 

At  Lowell  and  other  places  there  was  a  using  of  water- wheels  to  spin  and 
weave — the  employment  of  the  energy  of  nature,  the  use  of  iron  and  steel, 

of  wheel,  pinion,  spindle,  and  shuttle, 
to  do  the  work  of  human  hands.  To 
build  the  mills,  to  work  the  looms, 
all  trades  were  employed.  New  in- 
dustries sprung  up.  Old  things — 
the  hand-cards  and  spinning-wheel, 
flax  -  breaker,  swingling  -  knife,  and 
hatchel  —  disappeared.  New  social 
conditions  came.  Inventors  found 
employment.  Invention  begins  in 
thought.  The  inventor  is  an  educa- 
tor. The  more  thought  he  puts  into 
a  machine,  the  higher  the  intelli- 
gence required  to  operate  it;  so 
there  was  an  increase  of  intelli- 
gence. Cities,  towns,  villages  sprung 
np  where,  but  a  short  time  before, 
no  sound  but  the  water  rushing  over 
its  rocky  bed  disturbed  the  stillness. 

^      x  '%     Schools  were  opened;  churches  lit" t- 

mis^^J       .     _    .  .    r  .  ,  , 

ed    their    spires   heavenward;    and 

from  morn  till  night  rose  the  hum 
of  industry  where,  through  uncounted  ages,  the  birds  had  built  their  nests 
and  foxes  reared  their  young. 

There  is  an  old  story  that  a  shepherd  who  was  tending  his  sheep  on  a 
mountain  near  the  little  village  of  Magnesia,  in  Asia  Minor,  and  who  had 
nails  in  the  heels  of  his  shoes,  happened  to  step  upon  a  black  rock  and, 
when  he  attempted  to  lift  his  foot,  found  that  the  rock  had  such  power  to 
attract  iron  that  he  could  not  stir.  We  need  not  believe  this  story  abont 
the  discovery  of  magnetic  iron  ore  unless  we  choose,  for,  if  true,  the  shep- 
herd must  have  been  very  weak  in  the  legs;  but  since  its  discovery,  away 
back  in  Homer's  time,  magnetic  iron  has  been  found  in  every  land.     The 


a.  i\  B.   MORSE. 


1790-1860.] 


PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION. 


43; 


Chinese  knew  its  properties — that  when  suspended  by  a  string,  or  balanced 
on  a  pivot,  a  piece  of  magnetic  iron  would  point  north  and  south.  Discov- 
ering this,  they  invented  the  compass. 

In  1762  a  gentleman  in  Germany,  happening  to  put  a  piece  of  zinc 
and  a  piece  of  silver  into  his  mouth,  felt  a  pricking  in  his  tongue.  He 
knew  not  what  to  make  of  it,  but  came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  was 
some  property  about  the  metals  of  which  the  world  was  ignorant. 

Two  years  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
a  lady  in  Italy,  Madame  Galvani,  who  was  helping  her  husband  dissect  a 
frog,  was  surprised  at  seeing  the  frog's  legs  move  when  brought,  in  contact 
with  a  piece  of  copper  and  a  piece  of  zinc.  Out  of  that  discovery  came 
the  galvanic  battery. 

Two  learned  men  —  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  in  England,  and  Arago,  in 
France — in  1819  discovered  that  a  piece  of  iron  surrounded  by  a  wire, 
with  a  current  of  galvanic  electricity  passing  through  it,  would  become 
magnetic.     Five  years  later  William  Sturgeon,  of  London,  bent  a  piece  of 


PltOFJSSSOlt  .MOH.sK   exhibiting   his   electric  telegraph. 


wire  ill  the  shape  of  the  letter  U,  wound  another  wire  around  it,  connected 
the  last  with  a  galvanic  battery,  and  discovered  that  the  first  wire  lost  its 
magnetic  property  the  moment  the  last  was  disconnected  with  the  battery, 
and  regained  it  the  moment  it  was  reconnected.  A  watch-maker  of  Al- 
bany, New  York,  Joseph  Henry,  who  had   been   appointed   professor   of 

28 


434 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXI. 


mathematics  in  Albany  Academy,  began  a  series  of  experiments  in  mag- 
netic electricity,  sending  a  current  through  a  wire  a  mile  in  length  and 
ringing  a  bell.    Another  American — Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  born  in  Charles- 


ENGINE    OF    1790 — GENERAL  WASHINGTON    AS    A    FIREMAN. 


town,  Massachusetts,  a  portrait -painter — in  1S32  conceived  the  idea  of 
the  electric-telegraph.  In  1837  he  exhibited  his  invention  to  a  party  of 
friends.  Congress  granted  thirty  thousand  dollars  to  aid  him  in  erecting 
a  line  between  Washington  and  Baltimore.  In  1844  Professor  Morse  sent 
the  first  message  to  his  assistant  at  Baltimore:  "What  hath  God  wrought?" 
The  Democratic  Convention  was  in  session  in  Baltimore,  and  the  first  pub- 
lic message  sent  over  the  world's  first  electric-telegraph  was  the  news  of 
the  nomination  of  James  Iv.  Polk  for  President. 

All  the  large  towns  and  cities  of  the  country  had  fire-engines.  Gen- 
eral Washington,  before  the  Revolution,  was  member  of  a  fire  company, 
and  aided  in  dragging  the  engine  to  fires.  When  a  fire  broke  out  in  any 
of  the  large  cities  the  church  bells  be^an  to  ring,  and  the  firemen  ran  to 
the  engine-house. 


1790-1860.] 


PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION. 


435 


As  all  the  bells  were  clanging  it  was  difficult  for  them  to  find  the  fire, 
and  they  often  went  tearing  through  the  streets  not  knowing  where  it 
was.  Why  not  give  an  .alarm  of  fire  by  the  electric-telegraph?  Moses 
G.  Farmer,  who  was  born  in  Boscawen,  New  Hampshire,  built  two  ma- 
chines in  1848,  placed  one  on  the  top  of  the  Court-house  in  Boston,  and 
the  other  in  the  belfry  of  the  Brattle  Street  Church,  connecting  them  with 
a  telegraph  wire  running  to  New  York,  and  the  operator  in  that  city, 
two  hundred  and  thirty  miles  away,  set  the  bells  ringing.  In  May,  1S52, 
the  electric  fire  alarm  invented  and  constructed  by  Mr.  Farmer  went  into 
operation  in  the  city  of  Boston,  giving  instant  notice  of  a  fire.  The  fire- 
men, instead  of  rushing  blindly  through  the  streets,  knew  the  exact  locality. 

The  engines  were  worked  by  hand,  requiring  twenty  or  more  men — 
as  many  as  could  get  a  hand  upon  the  brakes — to  throw  a  stream  to  the  top 
of  the  highest  buildings.  The  life  of  a  fireman  was  one  of  great  excite- 
ment. At  mid-clay  or  midnight  every  member  of  the  company,  upon  an 
alarm,  must  hasten  to  the  engine-house,  drag  the  engine  upon  the  run 
through  the  streets — -through  mud  in  summer  and  snow  in  winter — the 
bells  clanging,  and  the 
captain  shouting,  "Bounce 
her,  boys !" 

The  firemen  of  the  dif- 
ferent engines  took  great 
pride  in  being  first  to  start. 
There  were  lively  races  to 
see  which  should  be  first 
at  the  fire,  and  exciting 
contests  as  to  which  could 
throw  the  highest  stream. 
Men  whose  buildings  they 
were  trying  to  save  were 
ever  ready  to  supply  them 
with  crackers -and -cheese 
and  whiskey.  The  rivalry 
was  so  keen  between  the 
companies  in  the  large  cit- 
ies and  towns  that  a  fire 
was  frequently,  followed 
by  a  fight  between  the  members  of  the  different  fire-engine  companies. 

Mr.  Latta,  of  Cincinnati,  saw  that  steam  would  work  engines  far  better 
than  they  could  be  worked  by  men,  and  invented  a  steam  fire  engine  in 


MUSKS    G.    FARMER. 


436 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXI. 


1852  which  -would  work  on  hour  after  hour  and  never  grow  weary.  The 
firemen  in  all  the  large  cities  opposed  its  introduction,  for  with  steam- 
engines  in  use  there  would  be  no  more  exciting  races  or  contests,  no  more 
free  lunches  and  free  fights.     Business  men  saw  how  valuable  an  inven- 


UB 


mm 

■I 


111'        ^  '  -  rl     '  ¥,:  %      : 


KIKE   ENGINE,   1S54. 


tion  it  was,  and  so  the  United  States  gave  the  steam  fire-engine  to  the 
world. 

In  the  "  Story  of  Liberty"  will  be  found  an  account  of  Lawrence  Ivos- 
ter,  of  Haerlera,  who,  in  1423,  went  with  his  children  into  the  woods  for 
a  holiday,  and  who,  while  carving  their  names,  saw  that  by  making  the 
letters  of  the  alphabet  separate  lie  could  print  any  word  ;  that  his  ap- 
prentice, John  Gutenberg,  with  John  Faust,  improved  his  invention  and 
started  a  printing-press  at  Mentz.  Gutenberg  began  to  print  Bibles,  and 
so  reduced  the  price  that  a  Bible  which  used  to  cost  seven  hundred  crowns 
could  be  purchased  for  thirty.  In  1620,  at  the  time  the  Pilgrims  were 
crossing  the  Atlantic,  William  Blaew,  of  Amsterdam,  improved  the  print- 
ing-press used  by  Gutenberg — attaching  a  spring  to  the  lever,  thus  cans- 


1790-18G0.] 


PEOGEESS   OF   INVENTION. 


437 


BENJAMIN'    FRANKLIN  S    PIIKSS. 


ing  it  to  flv  back  as  soon  as  the  impression  was  taken.  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin's printing-press  was  Blaew's,  with  a  few  improvements.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century  not  more  than  five  hundred  impressions  an  hour  could 
be  made  by  the  best  press  in  the 
world — one  invented  by  Lord  Stan- 
hope, of  England.  While  the  war 
was  going  on  between  England  and 
the  United  States  (1812)  a  German 
mechanic  (Konig)  was  at  work  con- 
structing a  press  for  the  London 
Times  driven  by  steam,  which 
printed  eleven  hundred  impressions 
an  hour.  George  Clymer,  of  Phila- 
delphia, invented  a  press  which 
lie  named  the  "Columbian,"  a  much 
better  hand -press  than  Lord  Stan- 
hope's. 

A  very  ingenious  mechanic,  Rich- 
ard M.  Hoe,  of  New  York,  who  was 
making  saws,  went  to  England  in  1S37  to  obtain  a  patent  for  an  improved 
mode  of  grinding  saws.  He  had  his  eyes  open,  and  saw  that  a  much  better 
printing-press  than  that  used  by  the  London  Times  could  be  constructed. 
He  returned  to  the  United  States  and  constructed  the  "  Lightning  Press," 

and  then  the  "  Perfecting  Press,"  capable 
of  printing  fifteen  thousand  newspapers, 
on  both  sides,  in  an  hour. 

It  is  five  hundred  years  since  the  copy- 
ists under  John  Wickliff  (see  "Story  of 
Liberty")  wrote  out  his  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  the  English  language.  Of  the 
five  million  inhabitants  in  Great  Britain 
at  that  time  very  few  could  read.  The 
translations,  written  out  with  much  care, 
were  chained  to  reading-desks  in  the 
churches.  In  all  the  cathedral  towns 
there  were  daily  readings  of  the  Bible  to 
the  people.  In  contrast  the  printing-press- 
es invented  by  Mr.  Hoe  will  print  twenty- 
five  hundred  copies  of  the  Bible  in  an  hour;  and  at  so  cheap  a  rate  is 
printing  done,  that  the  New  Testament  entire  can  be  printed  for  two  cents. 


"  COLUMBIAN  "    PRESS. 


438 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXI. 


RICHARD    M.    HOE. 


The  inventions  of  Mr.  Hoe,  the  introduction  of  the  telegraph,  with  the 
construction  of  railroads,  made  it  possible  to  produce  the  great  metropoli- 
tan newspapers  published  in  New  York,  Chicago,  and  other  cities  of  the 
country,  far  excelling  in  variety  and  completeness  of  information  the 
newspapers  of  London  or  Paris — employing  hundreds  of  men  to  gather 
news,  write  editorials,  report  meetings  and  speeches,  give  accounts  of  acci- 
dents by  flood   or  fire,  narratives  of  battles  —  of  everything  transpiring, 


1790-1860.] 


PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION. 


430 


whether  on  the  Atlantic  or  Pacific  coast,  on  the  prairies,  or  amid  the 
mountains ;  sending  men  to  Europe,  Asia,  Africa ;  discussing  all  political, 
moral,  religious,  economical  questions;  recording  the  progress  of  the  world 
— making  the  newspaper  one  of  the  mightiest  forces  of  civilization. 


THE    PERFECTING    1'1,!>S. 


440  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXXII. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

THE   MORMONS. 

IX  all  countries,  and  in  all  ages,  there  have  been  men  and  women  ready 
to  accept  any  religions  belief,  no  matter  what  its  character,  origin,  or 
foundation.  In  India  lived  the  Thugs,  who  murdered  men  and  women 
as  a  religious  act.  It  is  very  easy  for  designing  men  to  awaken  religious 
enthusiasm  and  delude  ignorant  but  well-meaning  people,  and  use  them 
to  advance  their  own  interests. 

A  great  delusion,  wide-spread  and  powerful  —  Mormonism — has  had 
a  strange  development.  In  17S5  Solomon  Spanieling  graduated  from 
Dartmouth  College.  He  became  a  minister,  but  left  preaching  and  kept 
a  store.  He  wrote  a  story,  a  poor  romance,  about  the  origin  of  the  In- 
dians— that  they  were  descendants  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel  that  revolted 
when  Jeroboam  was  king. 

Mr.  Spaulding  styled  his  book  "  Manuscript  Found ;  or,  the  Book  of 
Mormon."  He  sent  it  to  Pittsburg  to  be  printed.  One  of  the  men  in  the 
printing-office  was  Sidney  Rigdon,  who  left  off  setting  types  and  took  up 
preaching  for  a  living — preaching  in  school-houses  and  barns.  He  had 
the  manuscript  in  his  possession,  and  had  a  great  deal  to  say' about  the 
lost  tribes  of  Israel. 

To  understand  how  the  story  became  the  Mormon  Bible,  and  how  there 
came  to  be  Mormons,  we  must  go  to  the  green  hills  of  Vermont  and  make 
the  acquaintance  of  a  family  by  the  name  of  Smith,  in  the  town  of  Sharon 
— husband,  wife,  and  nine  children.  Mr.  Smith  claimed  to  be  a  wizard. 
People  who  wanted  wells  dug  employed  him  to  find  hidden  springs.  He 
held  a  witch-hazel  rod  in  his  hand,  walked  the  fields  and  pastures,  and 
when  he  came  to  the  right  spot  the  rod  tipped  in  his  hand.  Mrs.  Smith 
pretended  to  tell  fortunes  by  looking  at  a  person's  hand.  Those  who  knew 
her  best  said  that  it  was  easier  for  her  to  tell  a  lie  than  speak  the  truth. 
The  boys  were  vagabonds.  If  the  farmers  missed  a  chicken  from  the 
roost,  or  if  corn  disappeared  from  the  bin,  they  were  quite  sure  the  Smith 
boys  knew  about  it. 


1830-1860.] 


THE   MORMONS. 


441 


One  of  the  boys,  Joseph,  was  as  cunning  as  his  mother.  He  was  her 
favorite.  He  could  read,  but  never  learned  to  write.  He  had  two  books 
— the  "Life  of  Stephen  Burroughs,"  who  had  been  licensed  to  preach,  bat 
who  was  a  scoundrel  and  thief,  and  who  was  several  times  put  in  jail ;  the 
other  book  was  about  Captain  Kidd,  the  pirate,  who  captured  a  great  many 
vessels  on  the  ocean.  Joseph  took  great  pleasure  in  reading  about  the 
exploits  of  the  sea-rover  and  freebooter,  and  in  singing  the  ballad : 

"  My  name  was  Robert  Kidd, 

As  I  sailed,  as  I  sailed ; 
And  most  wickedly  I  did, 
And  God's  laws  I  did  forbid, 

As  I  sailed,  as  I  sailed." 


The  family  moved  to  New  York  State,  and  settled  near  Palmyra. 
Mr.  Smith  built  a  house  and  dug  a  well.  He  threw  out  with  his  shovel  a 
curiously-shaped  white  stone,  which  Joseph  picked  up.  An  idea  came  to 
him:  the  Bible  had  a  great  deal  to  say  about  precious  stones;  why  not 
make  this  a  prophetic  stone  to  $&^Bmg***es* 
tell  fortunes  by,  and  so  make 
money  ?  His  mother  urged  him 
on,  telling  him  Avhat  to  say.  Peo- 
ple wanted  to  know  about  the 
future — about  getting  rich.  He 
put  the  stone  into  a  hat,  put  the 
hat  to  his  face,  and  pretended 
that  the  stone  was  transparent 
and  shining,  and  that  by  looking 
at  it  lie  could  tell  what  was  to 
happen  ;  that  if  a  man  would  dig- 
in  the  ground  in  a  specified  place 
he  would  find  a  pot  filled  with 
gold  ;  but  the  digging  must  be  in 
silence,  for,  if  a  word  were  spo- 
ken, the  pot  never  would  be 
found.  It  never  was  found.  Xevertheless,  people  came  to  consult  Joseph 
Smith  about  cattle  that  had  strayed,  and  horses  that  had  been  stolen,  or 
whether  their  undertakings  would  prosper. 

The  man  who  had  quit  printing  and  taken  up  preaching  made  the 
acquaintance  of  the  man  who  could  tell  so  much  by  putting  his  white 
stone  into  a  hat  and  looking  at  it.     Sidney  Rigdon  read  to  Smith  the  story 


the  raoriiKCY. 


442  BUILDING   THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXXII. 

written  by  Spanieling.  Joseph  Smith  was  shrewd  enough  to  see  that  he 
could  use  the  Book  of  Mormon  to  advantage.  He  said  that  an  angel  stood 
by  his  bed  one  night  and  informed  him  that  if  he  would  go  to  the  hill 
Cumorah,  four  miles  south  of  Palmyra,  and  dig  in  the  ground,  he  would 
find  a  set  of  golden  plates,  on  which  were  hieroglyphics  which  he  would 
be  able  to  read  by  using  two  transparent  stones,  which  he  would  also  find 
— the  Urim  and  Thummim  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  plates,  the  angel 
said,  contained  a  revelation  from  Almighty  God. 

On  the  night  of  September  22,  in  the  year  1S2T,  according  to  Smith's 
story,  an  angel  placed  the  plates  in  his  hands.  They  were  eight  inches 
long  and  seven  wide,  and  made  a  pile  six  inches  high.  ISo  one  but  him- 
self ever  was  to  see  them,  because  they  were  sacred,  and  God  had  chosen 
him  as  his  special  agent  to  reveal  them  to  the  human  race. 

Sitting  behind  a  blanket  hung  so  that  no  one  could  see  him,  with 
Oliver  Cowdery  at  a  table  near  enough  to  hear  and  write  what  he  had  to 
say,  Joseph  Smith  made  his  pretended  translation  of  the  supposed  hiero- 
glyphics on  the  spurious  plates.  The  whole  made  sixteen  books.  The 
first  book  tells  about  Xephi,  who,  Smith  said,  lived  in  Jerusalem  b.c.  600, 
who  built  a  ship,  and  with  eight  men  made  their  way  to  America.  After 
many  years  there  was  a  rebellion,  and  those  who  rebelled — the  Lamanites 
— were  condemned  by  God  to  have  dark  skins.  Great  battles  were  fought. 
The  last  one  was  on  the  hill  Cumorah,  near  Palmyra,  where  the  Kephites 
were  defeated.  Hundreds  of  thousands  were  killed  on  both  sides.  Among 
the  survivors  of  the  Xephites  were  Mormon  and  his  son  Moroni,  whom 
God  directed  to  engrave  the  record  on  the  plates,  and  bury  them  where 
the  angel  revealed  them  to  Joseph  Smith. 

Joseph  was  poor,  but  he  persuaded  Martin  Harris,  who  had  money, 
that  it  would  be  a  good  speculation  for  him  to  print  it.  Mr.  Harris  let 
him  have  the  money,  and  the  book  was  printed;  but  the  trusting  farmer 
never  saw  his  dollars  again. 

AVhile  the  printers  were  setting  the  types  Joseph  called  upon  a  learned 
man  in  Xew  York  City — Professor  Charles  Anthon. 

"  I  want  to  show  you  some  of  the  characters  on  the  golden  plates  re- 
vealed to  me  by  the  angel  Moroni ;  they  are  ancient  Egyptian  characters," 
said  Smith. 

Professor  Anthon  looked  at  the  paper,  and  saw  a  great  variety  of 
crooked  characters — letters  of  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  and  Roman  alpha- 
bets, turned  upside  down  and  crossways,  arranged  in  columns,  with  a 
circle  very  much  like  the  one  found  in  Mexico  by  Alexander  Humboldt, 
and  supposed  to  have  been  made  by  the  ancient  Aztecs. 


1830-1860.]  THE   MORMONS.  443 

When  the  Mormon  Bible  made  its  appearance  people  said  that  it  was 
Spaulding's  novel  mixed  with  quotations  from  the  Bible,  and  much  more 
from  Joseph  Smith.  It  spoke  of  a  period  when  the  Saints  were  to  rule 
the  earth — a  millennium.  The  Indians  were  to  be  converted.  All  peo- 
ple who  accepted  the  Book  of  Mormon  were  to  be  Saints.  They  were  to 
have  a  great  central  city  in  America. 

Joseph  Smith  began  to  preach,  and  found  men  and  women  ready  to 
listen  to  him  and  accept  his  doctrine.  A  church  was  organized  at  Man- 
chester, Kew  York,  in  1S30.  lie  set  the  converts  to  preaching.  The 
excitement  spread.  Xewspapers  had  a  great  deal  to  say  about  the  sect 
that  had  taken  the  name  of  the  "Latter-day  Saints."  Some  of  the  con- 
verts went  to  Missouri  and  laid  out  the  town  of  Independence.  Were 
not  the  Saints  to  inherit  the  earth  ?  Were  not  thejT,  the  Saints,  the 
chosen  of  the  Lord?  They  became  arrogant,  and  claimed  all  the  land, 
which  so  incensed  the  people  of  Missouri  that  they  ducked  some  of  the 
Saints  in  the  river. 

Joseph  Smith  organized  another  church  at  Ivirtland,  Ohio,  built  a  mill, 
set  up  a  bank,  appointing  himself  president,  and  Sidney  Rigdon  cashier. 
They  had  no  charter,  but,  nevertheless,  issued  bills,  and  bought  houses,  cat- 
tle, and  horses  with  the  worthless  bills.  They  swindled  the  people,  who, 
in  their  anger,  seized  the  "two  prophets,"  as  they  called  themselves,  and 
treated  them  to  coats  of  tar  and  feathers. 

That  did  not  deter  Smith  from  going  on  with  his  plans.  Before  he 
brought  out  the  Book  of  Mormon  he  was  in  poverty;  now  he  had  plenty 
of  money.  The  Saints  trusted  him.  Men  and  women  were  ready  to  join 
the  Church,  and  were  quick  to  believe  any  story  he  might  tell  them  of 
revelation  from  God.  He  sent  out  preachers  all  over  the  country — to 
England  and  Scotland — who  promised  great  worldly  prosperity  to  all  who 
accepted  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  joined  the  Church.  One  of  the  converts 
was  Brigham  Young,  from  Vermont,  who  "was  ordained  an  elder,  and  be- 
came a  preacher.  Smith  took  his  revenge  upon  the  "  Gentiles  "  of  Kirt- 
land  by  swindling  them  still  more;  but,  fearing  the  sheriff  might  put  him 
in  jail,  he  went  to  Missouri,  where. there  were  many  who  had  become  Mor- 
mons.    They  built  the  town  of  Far  West. 

The  Mormons  became  more  arrogant  than  ever. 

"We  are  not  amenable  to  the  laws  of  the  State,"  said  Smith.  They 
began  to  plunder  the  people,  who  organized  themselves  into  a  battalion, 
fell  upon  the  Saints,  and  set  their  houses  on  fire.  The  governor  of  the 
State  called  out  the  militia.  Smith  and  several  others  were  tried  by 
court-martial,  and  were  sentenced  to   be  shot,  but  were  put   in  jail  in- 


444  BUILDING   THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXXII. 

stead.  They  escaped  and  fled  to  Illinois,  shaking  the  dust  from  their  feet 
against  Missouri,  threatening  vengeance.  They  began  a  new  town  on  the 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  and  named  it  Xauvoo.  It  was.  to  be  the  great 
central  and  holy  city  of  the  Saints.  The  people  who  had  followed  Smith 
to  Missouri  now  followed  him  to  Xauvoo. 

A  new  element  came  into  play  to  help  on  the  Mormon  Church.  There 
were  two  great  political  parties  in  the  country — Whigs  and  Democrats. 
General  Harrison,  who  had  won  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  was  the  candidate 
of  the  Whigs  for  President,  and  Martin  Van  Buren  the  candidate  of  the 
Democrats.  There  were  men  in  the  country  who  wanted  to  be  senators 
and  representatives,  and  the  politicians  of  both  parties  were  ready  to  bid 
for  the  votes  of  the  Mormons.  When  in  Missouri  the  Mormons  had  voted 
with  the  Democrats,  but  the  Governor  of  Missouri,  a  Democrat,  had  or- 
dered out  the  militia  against  them.  They  had  sent  a  petition  to  Martin 
Van  Buren,  the  Democratic  President,  for  protection,  but  the  President 
had  taken  no  notice  of  it.  Joseph  Smith  saw  his  opportunity  :  he  would 
help  the  Whigs  if  the  Whigs  would  help  him.  He  wanted  a  charter  for 
the  city  of  Xauvoo,  and  sent  Dr.  Bennett  to  Springfield  to  get  it,  who 
called  upon  Mr.  Little,  Whig  senator  from  the  county  in  which  Xauvoo 
was  located. 

''You  shall  have  my  influence,'"  said  Mr.  Little. 

Dr.  Bennett  called  upon  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Secretary  of  State  —  a 
Democrat. 

"  I  will  help  you,1'  said  the  secretary. 

So  it  came  about  that  the  Mormons  obtained  a  remarkable  charter  in 
an  unusual  way — so  unusual  that  it  was  never  read  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, not  a  member  of  that  body  knowing  what  it  contained — that  the 
city  of  Xauvoo  might  extend  over  all  Illinois  under  this  clause:  "When- 
ever any  tract  of  laud  shall  have  been  laid  out  into  town  lots  and  duly  re- 
corded according  to  law,  the  same  shall  form  a  part  of  the  city.''  Another 
section  enabled  the  city  council  to  nullify  the  law  of  the  State  within  the 
city  and  over  as  much  adjoining  territory  as  they  pleased.  It  established 
a  military  organization  —  the  Xauvoo  Legion- — which  was  to  be  under 
Joseph  Smith,  and  independent  of  all  other  military  authority.  The  State 
was  to  supply  the  Legion  with  muskets  and  cannon.  It  established  a  court. 
Joseph  Smith  was  to  have  his  say  about  the  appointment  of  judges.  This 
Mormon  hierarchy,  of  which  he  was  the  head,  was  to  be  absolute  in  every- 
thing. 

Whigs  and  Democrats  alike  were  so  eager  to  get  the  votes  of  the  Mor- 
mons that  there  was  no  discussion  of  the  provisions  of  the  charter,  no  op- 


1830-1860.]  THE   MORMONS.  445 

position  to  its  passage.  More  powerful  than  ever,  the  shrewd  and  cunning 
men  who  were  deluding  the  ignorant  people  now  went  on  to  perfect  their 
plans.  More  preachers  were  sent  out  to  tell  of  the  wonderful  prosperity 
of  the  Church,  and  the  earthly  glory  that  was  in  store  for  all  who  joined 
it.  A  great  temple  was  begun,  built  of  stone  quarried  from  the  banks  of 
the  Mississippi,  with  a  baptismal  font  twenty  feet  square,  resting  on  twelve 
stone  oxen.  In  1S39  the  first  house  was  built  at  Xauvoo ;  in  1842  there 
were  sixteen  thousand  Mormons  in  and  around  the  town. 

The  politicians  of  Illinois  had  sown  the  wind  :  they  reaped  the  whirl- 
wind. Thieves  stole  horses  and  fled  with  them  to  Xauvoo;  robbers  plun- 
dered houses  and  made  haste  to  the  city  of  the  Saints,  and  were  protected 
by  Joseph  Smith,  mayor,  lieutenant-general,  head  of  the  Church.  The 
sheriff  was  powerless  to  arrest  them.  Proud,  boastful,  arrogant,  Smith 
asserted  his  authority.  lie  established  a  new  order  of  dignitaries  —  its 
members  were  to  be  kings  and  priests.  He  organized  a  body-guard,  and 
called  them  Danites,  or  the  Avengers.  He  claimed  to  have  a  revelation 
from  heaven  that  an  elder  might  marry  as  many  wives  as  he  pleased, 
after  the  manner  of  Abraham,  Jacob,  David,  and  Solomon.  He  grasped 
so  much  power  that  some  of  the  Mormons  resisted,  but  were  driven  from 
Nauvoo.  Grave  crimes  were  charged  against  Smith  —  for  causing  an 
officer  to  be  beaten,  for  shielding  thieves,  keeping  property  that  he  knew 
had  been  stolen,  issuing  counterfeit  money.  He  was  accused  of  seizing- 
land  and  other  property  of  the  people,  who  became  so  enraged  that  they 
began  to  organize  to  make  war  upon  the  Mormons.  The  governor  called 
out  the  troops,  but,  in  obedience  to  a  last  summons,  Smith,  his  brother 
Hiram,  and  several  leading  Mormons  gave  themselves  up.  They  were  put 
in  Carthage  jail,  but  the  jail  was  broken  open  by  an  infuriated  mob,  and 
Joseph  and  Hiram  Avere  killed. 

Sidney  Rigdon  wanted  to  be  elected  head  of  the  Church,  but  was  out- 
generalled  by  Brigham  Young,  who  made  short  work  with  Itigdon. 

"  He  is  to  be  cut  off  from  the  communion  of  the  faithful,  cursed,  and 
delivered  to  the  devil,  to  be  buffeted  for  a  thousand  years,"  was  the  edict 
of  excommunication. 

The  Legislature  of  Illinois,  seeing  what  a  mistake  had  been  made, 
repealed  the  charter.  The  Mormons  attempted  to  resist,  and  war  broke 
out.  Several  men  were  killed.  The  leaders  saw  that  the}7  could  not  stay 
in  Illinois,  but  must  go  far  away  into  the  wilderness. 

Brigham  Young  understood  human  nature — that  men  and  women  the 
world  over  might  be  affected  by  the  story  of  Joseph  Smith's  tragic  death 
— the  setting  forth  that  the  chosen  of  the  Lord  had  died  for  righteousness' 


446  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXXII. 

sake.  Three  thousand  missionaries  were  sent  to  England,  Germany,  Nor- 
way, and  Sweden.  The  converts  were  to  be  urged  to  come  to  America — 
to  the  great  city  which  the  Saints  would  build  in  the  far  "West. 

In  April,  1847,  Brigham  Young  and  a  company  of  Mormons  started 
from  Council  Bluffs,  made  their  way  over  the  prairies,  and,  after  many 
hardships,  on  July  24  reached  Salt  Lake,  and  chose  a  site  for  the  new 
city — beginning  the  settlement  of  Utah. 

It  was  a  forbidding  prospect.  They  were  in  a  valley  where  the  wild 
artemesia  was  the  only  verdure.  When  the  spring  rains  came  there  was 
grass  upon  the  hills,  which  withered  beneath  the  summer  sun  ;  but  streams 
trickled  from  the  mountains.  Ditches  were  dug,  and  the  water  turned 
upon  the  parched  ground,  which  industry  soon  made  a  garden. 

A  beehive  was  adopted  as  the  symbol  of  the  Church.  Work  was 
enjoined  as  a  duty.  Each  Mormon  was  to  pay  one-tenth  of  all  he  raised 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Church. 

The  discovery  of  gold  in  California  brought  a  great  crowd  of  emi- 
grants, who  were  glad  to  purchase  provisions  of  the  Mormons.  Prosperity 
attended  them.  The  desert  began  to  blossom.  Brigham  Young  was  ap- 
pointed Governor  of  Utah  by  the  President. 

He  ruled  as  a  despot,  bending  all  his  energies  and  employing  his  of- 
ficial power  to  build  up  Mormonism.  He  became  so  arrogant  that  in  1857 
President  Buchanan  appointed  Alfred  Camming  governor  in  his  stead. 
Brigham  Young  organized  the  Mormons  as  an  army,  and  forbade  the  new 
governor  to  enter  the  Territory. 

An  army  was  sent  to  compel  submission,  and  the  Mormons  yielded. 

One  of  the  Mormon  missionaries,  Parley  P.  Pratt,  went  to  California 
to  preach.  One  of  his  converts  was  a  married  woman,  who  left  her  hus- 
band to  become  the  wife  of  the  preacher.  Her  husband,  burning  to  be 
revenged,  followed  Pratt  to  Arkansas  and  killed  him. 

A  party  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  emigrants,  with  forty  wagons,  on  the 
way  from  Arkansas  to  California,  reached  Salt  Lake  City  in  1S57,  rested, 
purchased  supplies,  and  passed  on.  They  reached  Mountain  Meadow,  in 
Southern  Utah.  They  were  near  a  Mormon  settlement.  Suddenly  they 
were  attacked  by  men  dressed  as  Indians.  The  emigrants  sheltered  them- 
selves behind  their  wagons. 

"If  you  will  give  up  your  arms  you  shall  not  be  harmed,"  said  one  of 
the  pretended  Indians.  The  emigrants  gave  them  up,  but  the  next  mo- 
ment a  terrible  massacre  began — every  man  and  woman — all  but  seven- 
teen children  were  inhumanly  murdered. 

A  few  days  after  the  massacre  the  wagons,  horses,  and  clothing,  a  car- 


1830-1860.]  THE   MORMONS.  449 

riage  and  piano,  were  brought  to  Salt  Lake  and  sold— the  proceeds  going 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Mormon  Church.  The  massacre  was  by  the 
Danites,  or  "  Avengers."  The  emigrants  had  come  from  the  county 
of  Arkansas  in  which  Pratt  had  been  killed,  and  this  was  the  revenge 
meted  out  by  the  Mormons. 

The  Mormon  hierarchy  consists  of  the  first  presidency,  the  twelve  apos- 
tles, the  high  council,  the  seventies,  the  high-priests,  elders,  priests,  teachers, 
and  deacons.  The  first  presidency  consists  of  three  men,  who  have  great 
power  in  the  Church ;  who  send  out  a  ukase,  or  order,  whenever  they 
please,  and  the  Mormons  must  obey  or  be  cut  off  from  the  Church,  to 
suffer  persecution  in  this  world  and  eternal  punishment  in  the  world  to 
come. 

They  perpetuate  their  power  through  the  ignorance  of  the  people,  who 
accept  the  teachings  of  the  missionaries  as  gospel  truth.  Not  many  Amer- 
icans have  become  Mormons,  but  most  of  the  settlers  of  Utah  are  from 
other  countries,  who  do  not  know  that  Mormonism  is  not  merely  a  form 
of  religion,  but  a  political  system  as  well — antagonistic  to  the  government 
established  by  the  people,  the  Constitution,  and  the  Union. 

29 


4:50  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXXIIL 


CHAPTER  XXXIIL 

LITERATURE    AND    SCIENCE. 

rr^IIE  nation — with  its  vast  domain,  reaching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
■*-  Pacitic ;  with  its  great  rivers  and  lakes;  its  mountains  filled  with 
coal,  iron,  gold,  and  silver;  its  fertile  fields  and  verdant  pastures,  its  great 
towns  and  cities — would  be  very  poor  if  these  were  all  its  possessions.  The 
men  who  felled  the  forests,  tilled  the  ground,  constructed  roads,  built  cities, 
laid  foundations  of  States,  fought  battles,  not  alone  have  been  builders  of 
the  nation  ;  they  who  never  have  marched  to  the  battle-field,  swung  an  axe, 
or  stood  in  legislative  halls — quiet  men,  in  the  seclusion  of  their  homes, 
writing  down  their  thoughts — have  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  making 
the  nation  what  it  is. 

Material  wealth  perishes  with  the  using:  the  fire  burns  it,  time  de- 
stroys it.  Literature,  science,  and  art  alone  endure.  Thebes  was  a  great 
and  powerful  city  when  the  "  Iliad  "  was  written  ;  to-day  it  is  a  dust-heap, 
but  the  "Iliad"  remains.  Though  Shakspeare  had  little  money,  very 
great  the  inheritance  which  the  world  has  received  from  him. 

A  nation  that  has  no  intellectual  development  will  play  an  unimportant 
part  in  the  great  drama  of  Time ;  on  the  other  hand,  a  nation  that  esteems 
literature,  science,  and  art  as  of  greater  value  than  houses,  lands,  or  money 
may  confidently  look  forward  to  a  long  lease  of  life. 

The  American  Republic  had  its  origin  in  the-  longings  and  determina- 
tion of  men  to  exercise  freedom  of  thought.  The  men  of  the  Mayflower 
thought  and  acted  for  themselves.  They  established  free  schools  that  their 
children  might  not  grow  up  in  ignorance.  Out  of  the  common-school  has 
come  the  intellectual  development  of  the  nation. 

During  the  Colonial  and  through  the  early  years  of  the  century  there 
was  so  much  hard  work  to  be  done  that  not  many  books  could  be  written. 
Only  the  ministers  had  any  leisure  for  thought,  and  their  thinking  was  not 
of  literature,  but  how  to  put  together  words  enough  for  two  sermons  on 
Sunday — doing  what  they  could,  with  their  limited  education  and  narrow 
range  of  thought,  to  instruct  the  people. 


1800-1860.]  LITERATURE  AND   SCIENCE.  451 

From  the  common  schools  of  New  England,  before  the  .Revolution, 
came  two  strong  men  of  thought  —  Jonathan  Edwards  and  Benjamin 
Franklin — whose  writings  had  a  powerful  influence.  Edwards  wrote  on 
the  freedom  of  the  human  will  so  profoundly  that  the  Old  World  won- 
dered how  it  was  possible  that  the  New  World  should  produce  such  an 
intellect.     His  thinking,  however,  was  of  the  world  to  come. 

Benjamin  Franklin — a  man  of  the  people — was  ever  thinking  how  the 
human  race  could  get  the  most  comfort  and  enjoyment  in  the  present  life. 
His  "Poor  Richard's  Almanac"  hung  in  the  chimney-corners  of  the  farm- 
houses, and  was  a  storehouse  of  worldly  wisdom,  thrift,  and  economy ;  the 
way  to  be  prosperous,  contented,  and  happy. 

Ministers  read  Jonathan  Edwards's  writings,  and  wrote  their  sermons 
under  the  inspiration  of  his  commanding  intellect.  Benjamin  Franklin 
talked  to  the  people — the  farmers,  the  boys  and  girls — by  their  firesides, 
through  the  proverbs  and  wise  sayings  of  his  almanacs.  Jefferson,  Adams, 
Hamilton,  Madison,  and  John  Jay  wrote  and  talked  only  of  politics. 

Philip  Frenau  was  the  poet  of  the  Revolution.  He  was  a  student  at 
Princeton  in  1767,  with  James  Madison  for  a  room-mate.  He  wrote  sat- 
ires on  the  Tories  and  patriotic  songs,  which  were  sung  by  the  people. 
One  was  to  the  memory  of  those  who  fell  at  Eutaw : 

"At  Eutaw's  Springs  the  valiant  died, 

Their  limbs  with  dust  are  covered  o'er ; 
Weep  on,  ye  springs,  your  tearful  tide — 
How  many  heroes  are  no  more!" 

John  Trumbull,  of  Connecticut,  was  so  bright  that  when  he  was 
only  five  years  old  he  could  read  Latin  and  Greek.  He  entered  Yale 
College  when  he  was  thirteen.  He  was  witty,  and  satirized  the  follies 
of  his  time. 

Timothy  Dwight,  President  of  Yale  College,  and  Joel  Barlow  wrote 
poetry;  but  their  writings  had  litfele  influence  in  developing  literature. 

"The  next  Augustan  age  will  dawn  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,1' 
wrote  Horace  Walpole,  of  England,  the  year  of  his  death,  1797.  At  the 
time  he  penned  the  words  a  little  boy,  three  years  of  age,  was  playing 
around  the  door  of  a  log-cabin  amid  the  hills  of  Western  Massachusetts, 
listening  to  the  murmuring  of  a  brook,  the  songs  of  birds,  looking  out 
upon  the  stately  trees  of  the  forest.  It  was  William  Cullen  Bryant,  who 
had  such  a  love  for  poetry  that  before  he  was  three  years  old  he  could 
repeat  many  of  the  hymns  which  his  mother  read  to  him  written  by  Dr. 
Isaac  Watts. 


452  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXXIII. 

"The  boy  will  never  live  to  grow  up,"  said  the  neighbors,  who  noticed 
that  his  body  was  small  and  his  head  very  large — so  large  that  his  father, 
who  was  a  physician,  thought  something  must  be  done  to  reduce  its  size, 
and  every  morning  he  was  plunged  head  foremost  into  the  cold  brook. 
He  went  to  the  district  school,  and  read  everything  that  lie  could  lay  his 
hands  upon.  On  the  last  day  of  the  term  the  minister  and  the  fathers  and 
mothers  attended  the  "examination  and  exhibition,"  to  see  how  well  the 
scholars  had  improved  the  time.  They  listened  in  astonishment  to  Wil- 
liam Cullen  Bryant's  composition.     These  are  some  of  his  lines: 

"  Thanks  to  the  preacher  whose  discernment  true 
Upholds  religion  to  the  mental  view ; 
Unfolds  to  us  instruction's  ample  page, 
Rich  with  the  fruits  of  every  distant  age  ; 
Pours  simple  truths,  by  love  divine  refined, 
With  force  resistless  on  the  youthful  mind. 
Thanks  to  the  gentlemen  assembled  here 
To  see  what  progress  we  have  made  this  year — 
In  learning's  paths  our  footsteps  to  survey, 
And  trace  our  passage  up  the  sloping  way." 

Thomas  Jefferson  was  President.  It  was  a  period  of  hot  political  dis- 
cussion about  the  ''embargo"  (see  p.  143).  The  newspapers  were  filled 
with  articles  approving  or  condemning  the  measure.  Bryant,  although 
only  thirteen  years  old,  wrote  a  poem  satirizing  it,  which  was  published 
in  Boston,  and  had  a  wide  circulation. 

He  entered  Williams  College.  He  was  often  seen  sitting  upon  a  stone 
in  the  fields  gazing  upon  the  surrounding  hills  and  lost  in  thought.  He 
was  not  able  to  complete  his  course  for  want  of  means,  and  began  the 
study  of  law  with  Judge  Howe,  of  Washington,  Massachusetts. 

His  father,  in  looking  over  a  drawer,  found  some  poetry  which  his  son 
had  written  while  at  Williamstown. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  these  lines  ?"  he  said,  showing  them  to  a  lady 
of  refined  taste. 

She  read  with  astonishment  and  with  tears  the  lines  entitled  "  Thana- 
topsis." 

His  father  sent  the  poem  to  Richard  H.  Dana,  editor  of  the  JTort/i 
American  Review. 

"That  poem  never  was  written  this  side  the  Atlantic,"  said  Mr.  Dana 
to  a  friend.  lie  could  not  believe  that  any  American  had  written  it,  and 
learned  with  amazement  that  the  author  was  only  seventeen  years  old. 
More  than  sixty  years  have  rolled  away  since  the  poem  was  written,  but 
time  has  not  diminished  its  beaiitv. 


1800-1860.] 


LITERATURE   AND   SCIENCE. 


453 


" '  Thanatopsis '  alone  is  sufficient  to  establish  the  author's  claim  to  the 
honor  of  genius,"  wrote  Christopher  North,  of  Edinburgh. 

Its  publication  was  the  dawn  of  the  new  Augustan  age  foreseen  by 
Horace  Walpole — the  beginning  of  the  literary  career  of  the  first  great, 
poet  of  the  New  World — the  beginning  of  American  literary  culture  and 
its  resultant  fruits. 

Bryant  became  editor  of  the  New  York  Review  in  1825,  in  which 
appeared  the  affecting  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  beloved  sister — "  The 
Death  of  the  Flowers :" 

"  The  melancholy  days  have  come,  the  saddest  of  the  year, 
Of  wailing  winds  and  naked  woods  and  meadows  brown  and  sere." 

He  also  became  editor  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post — a  writer  of  vig- 
orous power,  choosing  ever  the  most  forcible  word  to  express  his  meaning; 

writing  upon  the  vital  cpiestions  of 

every  hour;  wielding,  as  a  writer,  a 

far-reaching  influence  upon  literary 

/''',/    •'"&.  culture. 

'  '  -  William  Irving,  merchant,  !i\  ing 

at  131  William  Street,  New  York, 
father  of  eleven  children,  gave  the 
name  of  Washington  to  the  young- 
est son,  born  April  3, 17S3. 

The  boy  was  four  years  old  and 
wearing  his  first  trousers  when  Gen- 
eral Washington  came  to  New  York 
to  be  inaugurated  President,  lie 
went  to  a  school  taught  by  Ben- 
jamin Romani.  He  did  not  like 
arithmetic,  but  wrote  delightful 
compositions.  He  left  school  when 
he  was  sixteen  years  old  to  study 
law,  but  found  it  far  more  pleasant 
to  read  the  works  of  Fielding  and  Smollett,  Addison  and  Goldsmith,  than 
apply  himself  to  the  dry -as -dust  works  of  Coke  and  Blackstone.  His 
brother  Peter  published  the  Morning  Chronicle/  and  Washington  Irving, 
when  he  was  nineteen,  wrote  articles  for  it  over  the  signature  of  "Jona- 
than Old  Style/' 

He  made  a  journey  to  Northern  New  York  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hoff- 
man and  two  young  ladies.     They  stopped  one  night  at  a  miserable  tav- 


WILLIAM    CULLKX    1SKYANT. 


454 


BUILDING  THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXIII. 


BUNNYSIDE  :    IRVING  8    HOME. 


era,  which  Irving  named  the  Temple  of  Dirt,  and  wrote  these  lines  on 
the  wall : 

"  Here  Sovereign  Dirt  erects  her  sable  throne — 
The  house,  the  host,  the  hostess  all  her  own." 

Judge  Cooper,  who  had  slept  in  man}7  country  taverns,  saw  what  he 
had  written,  and  added  some  lines  of  his  own  composing: 

"Learn  hence,  young  man,  and  teach  it  to  your  sons, 
The  easiest  way  's  to  take  it  as  it  comes." 

Irving  sailed  for  France  in  1804,  travelled  in  France,  Italy,  and  Eng- 
land, meeting  Alexander  Yon  Humboldt  and  Madame  de  Stae'l.  lie  was 
absent  two  years,  and  met  with  many  adventures. 

Great  was  the  curiosity  awakened  in  New  York  by  a  series  of  advertise- 
ments in  the  newspapers,  the  first  appearing  October  25,  1809,  asking  for 
information  about  a  small,  elderly  gentleman,  dressed  in  a  black  cloak 
and  cocked  hat,  by  the  name  of  "  Knickerbocker,"  who  had  disappeared 
from  his  lodgings. 

The  paper  of  November  0  stated  that  the  little  old  gentleman  had 


1800-18G0.]  LITERATURE   AND   SCIENCE.  155 

been  seen  on  the  road  near  Kingsbridge.  The  paper  of  the  following 
week  contained  an  advertisement  stating  that  a  very  curious  manuscript 
had  been  found  by  Mr.  Knickerbocker's  landlord,  and  that  it  would  be 
sold  and  printed,  if  the  little  old  gentleman  did  not  return  and  pay  his 
board  bill.  The  book  was  published,  entitled  a  "  History  of  New  York.'' 
In  a  very  short  time  everybody  was  reading  it,  and  laughing  over  its  de- 
scriptions of  the  old  Dutch  times — everybody,  except  some  of  the  Dutch 
people,  who  did  not  like  to  have  their  ancestors  made  fun  of. 

"  If  I  were  not  a  woman  I  would  horsewhip  the  author,"  said  one  lady, 
with  flashing  eyes,  to  Washington  Irving,  who  had  written  it,  and  who 
had  taken  this  wa}r  of  advertising  it  in  advance  of  publication. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  the  literary  career  of  the  author  of  the  "  Sketch- 
book." That  volume,  together  with  "  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New 
York,"  were  the  first  books  produced  in  the  United  States  that  attracted 
the  attention  of  literary  men  in  Great  Britain. 

James  Fenimore  Cooper  was  a  sailor — a  midshipman  in  the  United 
States  Navy.  For  six  years  he  was  upon  the  ocean.  In  1821  he  published 
his  first  novel,  "  Precaution,"  a  story  of  English  life,  which  attracted  little 
attention,  but  it  was  immediately  followed  by  a  story  of  the  Revolution, 
"The  Spy,"  marked  by  a  spirit  and  enthusiasm  which  made  it  intensely 
American.  He  wrote  the  "  Pioneer,"  "  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,"  "  The 
Prairie,"  "  The  Pathfinder,"  and  the  "  Deerslayer,"  which  he  called  "  The 
Leather-stocking  Tales,"  the  hunter  and  trapper,  Leather-stocking,  appear- 
ing through  them  all.  They  could  have  been  written  in  no  other  country. 
They  were  scenes  of  the  frontier,  portraying  the  spirit  of  the  men  who 
were  laying  the  foundations  of  the  Republic,  and  marked  the  beginning  of 
real  American  fiction. 

The  establishment  of  the  North  American  Review  in  Boston,  just 
after  the  second  war  with  England,  1815,  and  the  appearance  of  other 
literary  magazines,  containing  poems  and  verses  and  prose  articles  written 
by  Percival,  Pierpont,  Brainerd,  Sprague,  Dana,  Paulding,  and  Willis,  in- 
dicated the  spirit  of  the  rising  nation. 

The  authors  wrote  single  articles,  but  not  many  books  of  any  literary 
value ;  so  few,  that  Sydney  Smith,  of  England,  essayist  and  reviewer,  in 
1830  asked,  "  Who  reads  an  American  book?" 

In  truth  there  were  few  books  published  before  1830  worth  the  read- 
ing. But  the  nation  was  growing;  new  States  rising;  literary  culture 
advancing. 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  minister  of  a  Unitarian  church  in  Boston,  left 
preaching  and  became  an  essayist,  lecturer,  and  poet.     His  thinking  was 


456 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXIII. 


RALPH    WALDO    EMERSON. 


so  different  from  what  literary 
people  had  been  accustomed  to 
regard  as  correct  and  proper, 
that  he  was  called  a  "  transcen- 
dentalist"  —  those  using  the 
term  not  having  a  very  clear 
comprehension  of  its  mean- 
ing. Very  few  men  had  keen- 
er sense  of  beauty  and  right; 
few  men  such  ability  to  give 
expression  to  their  thoughts. 
Behind  his  thinking  was  ever 
a  great  moral  purpose  ■ — ■  to 
make  the  world  better.  He 
did  not  write  many  books, 
only  a  few  essays  and  poems ; 
but  they  have  taken  a  perma- 
nent place  in  the  literature  of 
the  English  language. 

From  Bowdoin  College,  in 
1S25,  came  a  mild-mannered, 
thoughtful  student,  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow,  who,  while  in  college, 
wrote  verses,  which  were  printed  in 
the  "Poet's  Corner"  of  the  village 
newspapers.  He  travelled  in  Eu- 
rope, and  upon  his  return  published 
a  poem- romance ; — "Hyperion."  It 
was  a  narration  of  a  poet's  wander- 
ings along  the  Rhine.  In  the  same 
year,  1S39,  he  published  "Voices  of 
the  Night,"  a  collection  of  poems; 
one,  the  "Psalm  of  Life,"  consisting 
of  only  nine  stanzas  of  four  lines 
each,  but  which  has  been  read  wher- 
ever the  English  language  is  spoken. 
"It  was  the  very  heart -beat  of  the 
American  conscience,"  wrote  George 
William  Curtis. 

When  the  young  printer,  William 
Lloyd   Garrison,  liberated  from    the 


HENRY    WADSWORTH    LONGFELLOW 


1800-1860.] 


LITERATURE   AND   SCIENCE. 


457 


jail  in  Baltimore,  began  to  lecture  against  slavery  lie  found  a  steadfast 
friend  in  the  person  of  John  G.  Whittier,  born  in  Haverhill,  Massachusetts, 
descendant  of  Friends  who  had  suffered  persecution  for  conscience'  sake. 
He  hated  injustice  and  wrong,  and  his  sympathies  were  ever  with  the  poor 
and  oppressed.  He  had  been  writing  poetic  legends  of  the  Indians — the 
"  Bridal  of  Penacook,"  "Mogg  Megone,"  and  of  the  Merrimac  River;  but 
from  the  commencement  of  agitation  on  the  slavery  question  his  thoughts 
were  of  his  fellow-creatures  in  chains: 

"  Our  fellow-countrymen  in  chains  ! 

Slaves — in  a  land  of  light  and  law! 
Slaves — crouching  on  the  very  plains 

Where  rolled  the  storm  of  Freedom's  war ! 
A  groan  from  Eutaw's  haunted  wood — 

A  wail  where  Camden's  martyrs  fell — 
By  every  shrine  of  patriot  blood, 

From  Moultrie's  wall  and  Jasper's  well !" 


From  that  hour  he  became  the 
poet  of  Freedom,  wielding  a  weighty 
influence  for  the  removal  of  the  gi- 
gantic wrong,  and  in  the  building  of 
the  nation  on  justice  and  right. 

When  the  Mexican  war  was  be- 
ginning a  letter  was  published  in  the 
Boston  Courier  purporting  to  have 
been  written  by  Ezekiel  Bigelow,  ac- 
companied by  a  poem  written  by  Eze- 
kiel's  son,  Hosea,  in  which  he  ridi- 
culed the  efforts  of  the  military  officers  to  obtain  volunteers  in  Boston. 
Thus  read  one  of  the  verses : 

"  Thrash  away !  you'll  hev  to  rattle 
On  them  kettle-drums  o'  yourn ; 
'Tain't  a  knowing  kind  of  cattle 
That  is  ketched  with  mouldy  corn." 

Poem  after  poem  came  from  the  pen  of  this  poet,  bright  with  wit, 
keen  of  sarcasm,  which  made  doctors  of  divinity  and  learned  judges  who 
supported  slavery  feel  very  uncomfortable.  There  was  no  such  person, 
however,  as  Hosea  Bigelow;  the  poems  were  written  by  James  Russell 
Lowell,  of  Cambridge,  whose  grandfather  wrote  the  Bill  of  Rights,  by 
which  slavery  was  abolished  in  Massachusetts.  The  poems  were  reprinted 
in  the  newspapers  all  over  the  Northern  States.     The  sarcasm,  wit,  and 


JOHN    GREEXLEAF    WHITTIER. 


458 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXIII. 


ridicule  enabled  men  to  see  as  never  before  how  the  slave-holders  were 
using  the  members  of  Congress,  judges,  merchants,  and  the  people  of  the 
Northern  States  generally  to  further  their  interests. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  the  literary  career  of  a  poet  whose  voice  has 
ever  been  for  freedom,  justice,  and 
humanity. 

These  are  the  bright  stars  that 
have  shone  in  the  firmament  of 
American  literature.  Not  now  does 
any  one  ask,  "Who  reads  an  Ameri- 
can book  2"  The  cultured  of  every 
land  are  familiar  with  Bryant  and 
Longfellow.  Thoughtful  men  of 
every  country  linger  with  delight 
over  the  pages  of  Emerson.  The 
writings  of  Bancroft,  Prescott,  Park- 
man,  and  Motley  promise  to  occupy 
a  permanent  place  in  historical  lit- 
erature. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  century 
the  world  knew  very  little  about 
science.  In  1774,  when  the  patriots 
of  the  Revolution  were  preparing  to 

defend  their  political  rights,  Dr.  Priestley,  of  England,  by  heating  red  oxide 
of  mercury  in  a  retort,  obtained  oxygen  gas,  in  which  substances  burnt 
with  great  brilliancy,  and  which,  when  inhaled,  gave  increase  of  vigor, 
lie  knew  nothing,  the  world  knew  nothing  of  the  part  which  it  plays  in 
the  universe,  constituting  about  one -third  of  the  solid  earth,  forming 
by  weight  nine-tenths  of  water  and  one-fourth  of  the  atmosphere;  that 
without  it  there  can  be  no  life,  either  animal  or  vegetable. 

It  is  just  a  century  since  Cavendish  and  Watt  discovered  that  water, 
instead  of  being  a  single  element,  is  composed  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen 
gases ;  that  when  the  two  are  combined  water  is  formed. 

Chemistry  and  geology  were  in  their  infancy  when  Benjamin  Silliman 
was  appointed  professor  of  chemistry  in  Yale  College  in  1802.  He  made 
a  partial  survey  of  his  native  State — the  first  systematic  geological  sur- 
vey in  the  Western  World.  He  made  many  scientific  experiments,  pub- 
lished books,  and  established  the  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Art 
in  1810. 

In  1816  Louis  Asrassiz,  born  in  Switzerland,  arrived  in  Boston.     lie 


JAMES    RUSSELL    LOWELL. 


1800-1860.] 


LITERATURE   AND   SCIENCE. 


459 


was  a  great  lover  of  natural  history,  and  when  walking  in  the  fields  was 
accustomed  to  pick  up  snakes  and  toads,  take  them  home,  and  study  their 
habits.  He  settled  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  was  made  professor 
in  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  connected  with  Harvard  University, 
and  from  that  time  to  his  death  gave  his  life  to  science. 

Joseph  Henry,  born  in  Albany  in  1797,  became  a  watch-maker.  In 
1826  he  was  appointed  professor  of  mathematics  in  the  Albany  Academy, 
where  he  began  experiments  in  electricity  —  sending  an  electric  current 
through  a  wire  more  than  a  mile  in  length.  His  experiments  enabled 
Professor  Morse  to  construct  the  electric-telegraph. 

Mr.  James  Lewis  Smithson,  of  England,  a  chemist,  having  great  admi- 
ration for  the  government  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  had 
established,  bequeathed  nearly  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars  to  the 
country  for  the  establishment  of  an 
institution  for  the  increase  and  dif- 
fusion of  knowledge — to  be  known 
as  the  Smithsonian  Institute.  Upon 
its  establishment,  in  1846,  Professor 
Henry  was  appointed  secretary,  and 
became  known  to  the  world  as  one 
of  the  learned  scientists  of  the  age. 
Associated  with  these  were  Benja- 
min Pierce,  Alexander  Dallas  Bache, 
William  B.Rogers — men  who  have 
made  great  and  valuable  contribu- 
tions to  science. 

Upon  this  western  continent 
there  has  been,  as  it  were,  the  cre- 
ation of  a  new  earth  and  a  new 
heaven — the  rising  of  a  government 
of  the  people — the  shining  forth  of 

a  new  literature.  The  forces  that  have  produced  the  nation  have  been 
vitalized  by  the  spirit  of  freedom,  a  love  for  justice  and  equal  rights  for 
the  elevation  of  the  human  race  to  a  higher  plane  of  civilization.  The 
literature  and  science  of  the  New  World  are  characterized  by  an  enthusi- 
asm and  expectation  far  beyond  the  attainments  of  the  present,  looking 
towards  a  future,  to  achievements  inexpressibly  grand  and  glorious. 


LOUIS    AGASSIZ. 


460  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXXIV. 


CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

JOHX   BROWN. 

ITTLE  did  John  Brown  of  Ossawattomie  know  how  important  a  part 
■*-^  he  was  to  play  in  the  great  drama  of  history,  or  what  would  result 
from  his  action.  He  was  poor  and  unlearned,  but  has  written  his  name 
large  in  the  history  of  the  country.  He  was  born  in  Connecticut,  but 
when  he  was  five  years  old  has  father  moved  to  Ohio.  Although  so  young 
he  made  himself  useful  by  driving  the  cows  and  sheep  during  the  long 
and  weary  journey.  He  killed  rattlesnakes,  and  once  caught  a  squirrel 
by  the  tail  and  held  on  to  it,  though  the  squirrel  bit  his  finger  through 
to  the  bone. 

"When  the  war  with  England  began  in  1812  John  Brown  was  twelve 
years  old,  and  so  self-reliant  that  his  father,  who  was  supplying  the  soldiers 
under  General  Harrison  with  beef,  sent  him  alone  with  a  herd  more  than 
one  hundred  miles.  There  were  few  settlements  along  the  road,  which 
ran  through  dense  forests,  where  there  were  bears  and  wolves,  but  he  did 
not  fear  them,  and  reached  the  camp  with  the  cattle. 

During  the  journey  he  stopped  one  night  at  a  house  where  there  was 
a  negro  boy  of  his  own  age  who  was  a  slave,  who  had  little  food  to  eat, 
and  who  was  often  cruelly  whipped  by  his  master.  John  Brown  felt  a 
choking  in  his  throat  when  he  saw  the  negro  knocked  down  with  an 
iron  shovel.  In  his  heart  he  took  an  oath  of  eternal  hostility  to  slavery. 
He  never  used  profane  language  :  it  was  the  flaming  up  of  his  soul  for 
justice  and  right. 

John  Brown  wrote  thus  of  his  early  years : 

"At  the  age  of  ten  an  old  friend  induced  him  to  read  a  little  history, 
and  offered  him  the  free  use  of  a  library,  by  which  he  acquired  some  taste 
for  reading,  which  formed  the  principal  part  of  his  early  instruction,  and 
diverted  him  in  a  great  measure  from  bad  company.  He  never  attempted 
to  dance  in  his  life,  nor  did  he  ever  learn  to  distinguish  one  card  from 
another.  He  knew  nothing  of  grammar,  nor  did  he  acquire  much  knowl- 
edge of  arithmetic." 


.1859.]  JOHN  BROWN.  461 

He  hated  oppression  and  injustice,  and  was  ever  read)7  to  help  the 
poor.  He  wanted  to  be  a  minister,  but  became  a  tanner  instead.  lie  was 
so  conscientious  that  he  would  not  sell  his  leather  until  it  was  completely 
dry.  "It  would  not  be  right  to  sell  water,"  he  said.  He  became  a  wool- 
merchant  in  Massachusetts,  but  lost  what  little  money  lie  had  earned,  and 
was  very  poor.  He  selected  a  home  in  the  wilderness  of  Northern  New 
York,  felled  the  trees,  built  a  cabin  ;  but,  when  emigrants  were  wanted  to 
make  Kansas  a  free  State,  he  went  to  that  State  with  his  six  sons,  organ- 
ized a  company,  and  fought  the  Border  Ruffians  who  were  murdering  the 
people. 

John  Brown  thought  and  acted  for  himself.  He  did  not  believe  that 
slavery  would  ever  be  abolished  by  telling  the  slave-holders  it  was  a  sin  ; 
nor  did  he  believe  that  the  people  of  the  Southern  States  would  ever  be 
made  to  see  that  they  would  be  better  off  if  it  wTere  abolished.  He 
believed  that  the  only  way  to  put  an  end  to  it  was  to  make  slave  prop- 
erty insecure.  Of  all  the  heroic  deeds  narrated  in  the  Bible  John  Brown 
wras  most  deeply  impressed  by  what  Gideon  accomplished.  He  enter- 
tained the  idea  that  he  also  was  to  be  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
the  Almighty  to  give  freedom  to  the  slaves.  He  planned  a  raid  into 
Virginia  from  Harper's  Ferry  to  liberate  the  slaves,  supply  them  with 
guns,  pistols,  and  pikes — not  to  murder  their  masters  and  mistresses,  for 
he  was  very  kind-hearted,  and  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  shedding 
blood  except  in  self-defence,  but  to  defend  themselves  if  attacked.  He 
did  not  contemplate  taking  them  to  Canada,  but  believed  they  could  de- 
fend themselves  in  the  mountains;  that  the  news  would  go  through  all 
the  Southern  States ;  that  there  would  be  uprisings  everywhere.  Ilis 
sons  and  the  men  who  had  stood  by  him  in  Kansas  would  act  with  him. 
He  did  not  see  that  the  probabilities  of  success  were  all  against  such  a 
plan. 

He  rented  a  farm  near  Harper's  Ferry,  in  Maryland.  One  by  one  the 
men  who  had  been  with  him  in  Kansas  joined  him.  People  wondered 
what  was  in  the  boxes  that  he  carted  from  the  railroad,  in  Chambersburg, 
to  his  farm,  little  thinking  that  they  contained  rifles  which  had  been  nsed 
in  Kansas. 

October  16,  1859,  came,  and  John  Brown,  with  seventeen  white  men 
and  five  negroes,  marched  in  the  darkness  into  Harpers  Ferry.  There 
Mas  a  watchman  on  the  bridge  spanning  the  Potomac.  On  the  Virginia 
side  of  the  river  stood  the  arsenal  owned  by  the  United  States,  which  was 
seized.  Colonel  Lewis  Washington  was  taken  prisoner,  and  his  slaves  lib- 
erated.   A  railroad  train  came;  Brown  stopped  it,  but  after  a  while  allowed 


462 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXIV. 


it  to  go  on  to  Baltimore.  One  by  one  the  citizens  were  arrested  and  held 
as  hostages. 

"What  is  your  object?"  asked  Colonel  Washington. 

"  To  free  the  slaves." 

Two  of  the  citizens  fired  at  Brown's  men,  who  returned  the  fire,  killing 
one  of  their  assailants.  The  citizens  then  began  firing  from  their  houses, 
and  mortally  wounded  Watson  Brown. 

"  Harper's  Ferry  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Abolitionists !" 

The  news  was  flashing  along  the  wires  to  Baltimore,  Washington,  Rich- 
mond, all  over  the  country.     Horsemen  were  riding  to  the   neighboring 


IJAKPF.R  S    FERRY. 


town  of  Charleston,  where  the  bells  rung  and  the  drums  beat,  and  the 
militia,  nearly  four  hundred,  under  Captain  Botts  and  Captain  A. vis,  hast- 
ened to  capture  the  invaders. 

The  Jefferson  Guards  crossed  the  Potomac  in  two  boats,  two  miles 
above  the  Ferry,  came  down  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  took  possession 
of  the  bridge,  cutting  off  Brown's  retreat;  the  rest  of  the  troops  advanced 
from  the  Virginia  side.  Five  of  Brown's  men,  under  Kagi,  attempted  to 
wade  the  river.  They  reached  a  rock  midway  the  stream.  Two  bun- 
dled Virginians  stationed  on  both  sides  of  the  river  began  to  fire.  Ka^i 
fell  riddled  by  balls,  and  his  body  floated  away  in  the  swirling  stream. 
One  by  one  they  dropped.      Leemann,  the   youngest  of  Brown's    men. 


1859.]  JOHN  BROWN.  463 

threw  away  his  gun  and  swam  toward  the  shore.  The  bullets  fell  like 
hail  around  him.     A  Virginian  waded  into  the  stream. 

"Don't  shoot!"  cried  the  swimmer,  throwing  up  his  hands;  but  the 
Virginian's  pistol  flashed,  and  the  lifeless  body  disappeared  in  the  swift- 
running  current.  One  of  Brown's  men,  Thompson,  gave  himself  up  as 
prisoner.  He  was  taken  to  the  hotel.  The  Virginians  were  going  to 
murder  him  in  the  parlor. 

"  I  don't  want  the  carpet  spoiled,"  said  the  landlord's  daughter,  placing 
herself  before  the  prisoner.  The  Virginians  dragged  him  down  to  the 
river,  tumbled  him  over  the  railing,  and  shot  him  as  he  fell,  riddling  him 
with  bullets. 

John  Brown,  with  the  rest  of  his  men,  was  in  the  engine-house.  He 
sent  out  Stevens  with  a  flag  of  truce,  who  was  shot  down  by  the  militia. 

Through  the  day  more  troops  came  from  Baltimore,  Ilagerstown,  and 
Frederick.  Colonel  Robert  E.  Lee  arrived  from  Washington  with  ninety 
United  States  Marines  and  two  cannon,  making  fifteen  hundred  men  to 
capture  twenty-three — reduced,  when  night  came,  to  six,  for  the  mangled 
corpses  of  most  of  Brown's  men  were  floating  down  the  Potomac  or  were 
lying  in  the  streets. 

A  writer  in  the  Frederick  Herald  pictures  the  scene : 

"  The  dead  lay  in  the  streets  and  in  the  river,  and  were  subjected  to 
every  indignity  that  a  wild  and  madly  excited  people  could  heap  upon 
them.  Curses  were  freely  uttered  against  them,  and  kicks  and  blows  in- 
flicted upon  them.  Though  dead  aud  gory,  vengeance  was  unsatisfied ; 
and  many,  as  they  ran  sticks  into  the  wounds  of  a  negro,  wished  that  he 
had  a  thousand  lives,  that  all  might  be  forfeited  in  expiation  and  avenge- 
ment.  Leeman  lay  upon  a.  rock  in  the  river,  and  was  made  a  target  for 
rifle  practice.  Shot  after  shot  was  fired  at  him,  and  when  tired  of  this 
sport  a  man  waded  to  where  he  lay,  set  him  in  a  grotesque  attitude,  and 
finally  pushed  him  off,  and  he  floated  down  the  stream." 

Tuesday  morning  came.  John  Brown  refused  to  surrender  unless  he 
could  be  allowed  to  depart  unmolested.  That  could  not  be  allowed.  The 
Marines  advanced,  burst  open  the  door  of  the  engine-house — having  three 
men  wounded  while  doing  it.  Lieutenant  Green  rushed  upon  Brown,  who 
had  laid  down  his  arms,  struck  him  in  the  face  with  his  sabre,  felling  him 
to  the  ground,  and  a  soldier  ran  his  bayonet  twice  through  his  body. 

The  struggle  was  over;  two  only  of  the  prisoners  were  unhurt.  Upon 
the  grass  in  front  of  the  engine-house  lay  the  man  who  had  planned  the 
enterprise. 

"Are  you  Captain  Brown,  of  Kansas?" 


464  BUILDING  THE  NATION.  [Chap.  XXXIV. 

"I  am  sometimes  called  so." 

"  Are.  you  Ossawattomie  Brown  ?" 

"  I  tried  to  do  my  duty  there." 

"What  is  your  present  object?" 

"  To  free  the  slaves." 

"Were  any  other  persons  but  those  with  you  now  connected  with  the 
movement  V 

"  No." 

"  Did  you  expect  aid  from  the  North  ?" 

'•'No."" 

"Did  you  intend  to  kill  people  in  order  to  carry  your  point?" 

"  I  did  not  wish  to  do  so,  but  you  forced  us  to  it.  I  could  have  burnt 
your  town  and  murdered  you  had  such  been  my  design." 

Twenty-three  men  had  made  the  attack;  all  were  killed  or  captured; 
yet  all  Virginia  was  in  alarm.  In  the  towns  there  was  beating  of  drums 
and  mustering  of  militia.  Business  stopped.  At  Washington  the  mili- 
tary force  was  increased.     Everybody  feared  an  uprising  of  the  negroes. 

In  the  court-room  at  Charlestown  John  Brown  lay  upon  a  cot  while 
the  mockery  of  a  trial  went  on.     Nothing  was  done  for  his  comfort. 

"  Have  you  anything  to  say  why  sentence  of  death  should  not  be  passed 
upon  you  ?"  asked  the  Court. 

"The  Bible  teaches  me  to  remember  those  that  are  in  bonds  as  bound 
with  them.  I  endeavored  to  act  up  to  that  instruction.  I  believe  that 
to  have  interfered  as  I  have  done  in  behalf  of  God's  despised  poor  was  not 
wrong,  but  right.  Now,  if  it  is  deemed  necessary  that  I  should  forfeit  my 
life  for  the  furtherance  of  justice,  and  mingle  my  blood  farther  with  the 
blood  of  my  children  and  with  the  blood  of  millions  in  this  slave  country 
whose  rights  are  disregarded  by  wicked,  cruel,  and  unjust  enactments,  I 
submit ;  so  let  it  be  done." 

The  sun  rose  clear  and  bright  on  the  2d  of  December.  Very  early  in 
the  morning  troops  began  to  arrive  —  horsemen  in  scarlet  jackets,  artil- 
lery-men with  cannon,  infantry  wearing  the  uniform  of  the  Old  Continen- 
tals, cocked  hats  and  cockades.  One  cannon  was  loaded  with  grape-shot 
and  planted  near  the  jail.  Other  cannon  were  placed  to  sweep  all  the 
avenues  leading  to  the  field  where  John  Brown  was  to  be  executed.  Three 
thousand  militia  were  under  arms.  Horsemen  were  out  in  the  country 
on  all  the  roads  for  fifteen  miles  around,  stopping  every  stranger  and  ask- 
ing his  business.  All  through  Virginia  were  men  fearful  that  negroes,  or 
white  men  from  the  North,  would  be  making  their  way  to  Charlestown 
to  rescue  the  prisoner. 


1859.]  JOHN  BROWN.  465 

Eleven  o'clock  came — the  lionr  assigned  for  his  execution.  During 
his  imprisonment  John  Brown  has  been  manacled.  He  steps  freely  and 
cheerfully  now  into  the  open  air.  I3y  the  door  of  the  jail  kneels  a  negro 
woman,  with  a  child  in  her  arms.     lie  stoops  and  kisses  the  child. 

"  God  bless  yon,  old  man  !     I  wish  I  could  help  you." 

It  is  one  of  the  despised  race  who  utters  the  words ;  the  race  whom  he 
has  tried  to  liberate;  the  race  for  whom  he  is  about  to  die.  There  are 
tears  in  the  eye  of  the  brave  man  who  is  a  stranger  to  fear.  He  steps  into 
a  furniture  wagon  containing  his  coffin. 

The  jailer,  Captain  Avis,  sits  by  his  side.  He  looks  out  upon  the  scene  ; 
around  him  are  the  soldiers.  Drums  are  beating,  but  he  does  hot  seem  to 
hear  them.  He  is  gazing  upon  the  blue  mountains  and  the  sunlight  rest- 
ing peacefully  upon  the  hills. 

"  This  is  a  beautiful  country,"  he  says. 

]STo  blanching  of  his  furrowed  cheek,  no  trembling  of  nerves. 

"You  are  a  game  man,  Captain  Brown,"  remarks  the  driver. 

"Yes,  my  mother  taught  me  never  to  fear;  but  it  is  hard  for  me  to 
part  from  friends,  though  newly  made." 

"  You  are  more  cheerful  than  I  am,  Captain  Brown." 

"Yes,  and  I  ought  to  be." 

The  procession  reaches  the  scaffold,  and  John  Brown  steps  down  from 
the  wagon.     He  turns  to  those  who  have  had  the  care  of  him. 

"  Gentlemen,  good-bye.  Captain  Avis,  I  have  no  words  to  thank  you 
for  all  your  kindness  to  me." 

He  walks  past  the  jailer,  sheriff,  officers,  and  with  firm  step  ascends 
the  scaffold  stairs.  His  arms  are  pinioned,  but  he  lifts  his  hat  from  his 
head  and  drops  it  upon  the  platform.  The  long  line  of  soldiers,  who  have 
expected  to  see  a  white  face  and  trembling  form,  gaze  in  amazement  upon 
the  scene.  His  elbows  and  ankles  are  pinioned,  a  white  cap  is  drawn  over 
his  eyes,  the  rope  adjusted  around  his  neck;  those  about  him  discover  no 
quickening  of  his  pulse,  no  sign  of  fear. 

"  Captain  Brown,  you  are  not  on  the  drop.  Will  you  come  forward  ?" 
said  the  sheriff. 

"  I  cannot  see,  gentlemen  ;  you  must  lead  me." 

"  Shall  I  give  yon  a  handkerchief  to  drop  as  a  signal  ?" 

"  No,  I  am  ready ;  but  do  not  keep  me  needlessly  waiting." 

It  is  his  last  request;  but  the  officer  commanding  the  three  thousand 
troops  is  not  ready.  The  troops  march,  wheel,  countermarch,  closing 
around  the  gallows.  Ten  minutes  pass,  and  John  Brown  the  while  stands 
erect  upon  the  drop  waiting,  not  a  nerve  quivering. 

30 


466 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXIV, 


"he  stoops  and  kisses  the  child." 


"Shame!  shame!"  murmur  the  assembled  crowd. 
The  stroke  of  a  hatchet  severs  the  rope,  and  John  Brown  swings  in 
mid-aii". 


1859.]  JOHN   BROWN.  467 

At  North  Elba,  New  York,  friends  gather  to  the  funeral,  singing  his 
favorite  hymn : 

"Blow  ye  the  trumpet,  blow, 

The  gladly  solemn  sound; 
Let  all  the  nations  know 

To  earth's  remotest  bound: 
The  year  of  jubilee  is  come — 
Return,  ye  ransomed  sinners,  home." 

Wendell  Phillips,  looking  down  into  the  open  coffin  and  gazing  upon 
the  face  calm  and  peaceful  in  death,  said,  "  He  has  abolished  slavery." 

Dead,  but  still  living.  They  who  make  great  sacrifices  for  truth,  jus- 
tice, and  liberty  can  never  die;  and  so  in  years  to  come  millions  of  men 
shall  march  over  fields  stained  with  human  gore  singing: 

"John  Brown's  body  lies  mouldering  in  the  grave, 
But  his  soul  is  marching  on." 


468  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXXV. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

THE   ELECTION   OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

FOR  a  period  of  forty  years  the  antagonism  between  freedom  and 
slavery  had  been  increasing.  The  slave-holding  States,  to  obtain 
greater  political  power,  brought  about  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  war 
with  Mexico,  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise ;  but  instead  of  gain- 
ing power  it  was  slipping  from  their  grasp. 

It  was  expected  that  California  would  be  a  slave  State,  but  the  discov- 
ery of  gold  had  peopled  the  Pacific  slope  with  men  opposed  to  slavery. 

The  Missouri  Compromise  bad  been  repealed,  with  the  expectation  that 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  would  become  slave  States;  but  there  were  to  be 
no  slaves  in  Kansas. 

For  many  years  political  leaders  in  the  Southern  States  had  been 
threatening  to  bring  about  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  if  they  could  not 
have  their  way.  They  had  no  love  for  the  Union.  They  maintained  that 
each  State  should  control  its  own  destiny.  They  were  looking  forward  to 
a  time  when  there  would  be  either  a  Southern  Confederacy,  or  when  sla- 
very would  be  extended  over  all  the  Northern  States. 

"Cotton  is  King,"  they  said.  "England  must  have  it  to  supply  her 
manufactories;  Xew  England  must  have  it  to  live." 

The  chief  cotton-producing  States  were  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ala- 
bama, Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas. 

""We  can  be  arbiters  of  the  nation's  destiny,"  said  the  slave-holders  of 
those  States.  Washington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  Franklin,  and  the  patriots 
of  the  Revolution  had  established  the  government  on  justice,  liberty,  the 
worth  and  dignity  of  man ;  but  John  C.  Calhoun,  Jefferson  Davis,  John 
M.  Mason,  William  M.  Yancey,  Robert  Toombs,  and  the  men  who  were 
advocating  secession  intended  to  adopt  a  new  basis  of  government — class 
distinction  in  society  —  the  degradation  of  labor.  The  slaves  were  to 
be  the  lowest  class ;  themselves  the  highest.  The  few  would  rule.  The 
government  which  they  intended  to  establish  would  not  be  a  government 
of  the  people,  but  an  oligarchy.     In  time  they  would  be  dukes,  earls,  lords. 


I860.]  THE   ELECTION   OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  469 

During  the  administration  of  James  Bnchanan  the  Southern  leaders 
were  planning  to  bring  about  a  secession  of  the  slave-holding  States.  A 
secret  society  was  formed,  called  the  "Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle," 
which  had  passwords  and  signs.     Its  object  was  to  foment  treason. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  so  far  as  he 
could,  was  spending  the  money  of  the  nation  to  help  the  Southern  States. 
The  Secretary  of  War,  John  B.  Floyd,  of  Virginia,  was  secretly  sending 
cannon,  muskets,  swords,  pistols,  and  ammunition  from  the  arsenals  in  the 
North  to  those  in  the  Southern  States. 

The  people  of  the  South  complained  of  the  aggression  of  the  Northern 
States ;  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  could  not  be  enforced  ;  that  Northern 
men  were  helping  slaves  to  escape ;  that  the  South  was  being  robbed  ;  that 
the  Constitution  failed  to  protect  them;  that  the  attempt  of  John  Brown 
to  free  the  slaves  was  applauded  by  the  people  of  the  North. 

The  Republican  party — formed  to  resist  the  aggression  of  slavery — was 
growing  stronger,  sweeping  all  the  Northern  States.  The  newspapers  in 
the  South  said  that  it  was  a  sectional  party,  and  the  Democratic  and  Whig 
newspapers  all  over  the  country  echoed  tire  cry. 

The  year  1860  came — the  year  for  electing  a  new  President. 

Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  who  had  brought  about  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  who  had  done  what  he  could  to  make  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  slave  States,  wished  to  ,be  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic 
party.  The  convention  of  the  party  assembled  at  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina, in  May.  There  were  angry  disputes.  The  Southern  Democrats 
would  not  have  a  Northern  man  unless  he  would  promise  to  grant  all 
their  demands.  A  large  majority  of  them  left  the  convention.  Those 
who  remained  balloted  fifty-seven  times  for  a  candidate,  and  then  ad- 
journed, to  meet  at  Baltimore. 

The  Whig  party — what  was  left  of  it — met  at  Baltimore,  and  nomi- 
nated John  Bell,  of  Tennessee,  for  President,  and  Edward  Everett,  of 
Massachusetts,  for  Vice-President. 

The  Southern  portion  of  the  Democratic  party  nominated  John  C. 
Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky. 

The  Republican  Convention  met  at  Chicago,  in  a  great  building  called 
the  "Wigwam,"  erected  for  the  purpose,  and  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln, 
of  Illinois.  The  world  knew  very  little  about  him.  He  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky, in  1809,  in  a  log-cabin.  His  father  and  mother  were  very  poor. 
AVhen  he  was  seven  years  old  he  went  to  a  school  kept  by  Zachariah  Biney, 
an  Irishman,  for  a  few  weeks.  lie  attended  Caleb  Hazel's  school  almost 
three  months,  learning  to  read,  write,  and  cipher.     He  heard  the  Rev.  Mr. 


470  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXXV. 

Elkins  preach  now  and  then  in  the  log-cabins  and  under  the  wide-spread- 
ing trees,  but  not  until  he  was  a  large  bov  did  he  see  a  church. 

His  father  disliked  slavery;  and  as  he  could  not  get  a  good  title  to 
land  in  Kentucky  moved  to  Indiana.  The  schools  were  better  there;  but 
there  was  so  much  hard  work  to  be  done  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  though 
only  eight  years  old,  had  little  time  to  attend  school ;  altogether  he  did 
not  go  a  year. 

His  mother  died,  which  was  a  great  grief  to  him. 

"All  that  I  am,  or  hope  to  be,  I  owe  to  my  angel  mother;  blessings, 
on  her  memory,"  he  said  in  after  years. 

He  had  few  books,  but  delighted  to  read  "iEsop's  Fables,"  Bunyan's 
"  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  Weems's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  and  the  Bible.  He 
loved  to  wrestle,  pitch  quoits,  and  throw  an  iron  bar.  He  was  ready  to 
help  any  one  who  needed  help. 

One  night,  as  he  and  other  boys  were  going  home  from  a  "raising,"  he 
discovered  a  stray  horse,  saddled  and  bridled,  in  the  woods,  and  near  by  it 
a  man  dead-drunk  upon  the  ground. 

"Let  us  leave  him,"  said  his  companions. 

"No, he  will  freeze  to  death  this  cold  winter  night." 

"  We  can't  carry  him." 

"Put  him  on  my  shoulder." 

His  companions  lifted  the  poor  drunkard,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  car- 
ried him  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  a  cabin,  and  stayed  with  him  through  the 
night. 

When  he  was  nineteen  years  old,  with  a  companion  he  went  to  New 
Orleans,  floating  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  on  a  flat-boat,  with  corn 
and  other  produce  from  the  farm  for  sale. 

The  trees  were  large  and  the  forests  dense  in  Indiana;  but  in  Illinois 
there  were  far-reaching  prairies,  and  when  Abraham  was  twenty- one 
years  of  age  he  and  his  father  moved  into  that  State. 

"Abraham  was  not  very  good-looking  at  that  time,"  said  George  Cluse, 
who  worked  with  him.  "He  was  tall,  ungainly,  and  wore  trousers  made 
of  flax  and  tow,  out  at  both  knees." 

He  was  very  poor,  so  poor  that  he  cut  down  the  oak-trees  and  split  four 
hundred  ra.ls  for  Mrs.  Nancy  Milles  for  a  yard  of  jean  dyed  with  butter- 
nut bark.     He  had  to  walk  seven  miles  to  and  from  his  work. 

He  helped  John  Hawks  and  two  other  men  build  a  large  flat-boat  on 
the  Sangamon  River,  cutting  out  all  the  planks  and  timber  with  a  whip- 
saw.  They  were  to  take  a  boat-load  of  hogs  to  New  Orleans.  They  could 
neither  coax  or  drive  the  hogs  on  board,  whereupon  Abraham  seized  them 


I860.] 


THE   ELECTION   OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


471 


one  by  one  in  his  brawny  arms  and  carried  them  into  the  boat.  He  made 
a  second  trip  to  the  far-off  city,  and  did  his  marketing  so  well  that  when 
he  came  back  the  man  who  had  employed  him  hired  him  to  tend  his 
store.  He  was  so  exact  in  all  his  dealings  that  people  called  him  "Hon- 
est Abe."  Every  one  trusted  him.  He  had  such  excellent  judgment,  and 
-was  so  true-hearted,  that  he -was  always  chosen  judge  and  referee  in  all 
matters  of  dispute. 

When  the  Indian  chief  Black  Hawk  made  trouble,  and  soldiers  were 
called  for,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  first  to  volunteer,  and  was  so 
popular  that  the  soldiers  elected  him  captain.  At  one  time  he  thought 
of  being  a  blacksmith,  but  his  neighbors  wanted  their  land  surveyed,  and, 
obtaining  a  compass  and  using  a  grape-vine  for  a  chain,  he  became  a  land- 
surveyor  instead. 

In  1834  his  friends  elected  him  to  the  Legislature,  and  re-elected  him 
in  1836.     He  came  in  contact  with  men  ;  began  to  study  great  questions. 

No  longer  could  he  be  a 
store-keeper  or  land-survey- 
or. He  had  acted  as  judge 
for  his  friends  and  neigh- 
bors :  he  would  become  a 
lawyer.  In  1836  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Bar,  and  made 
Springfield  his  home.  He 
was  elected  to  Congress.  He 
was  a  Republican,  and  the 
Republican  party  in  Illinois 
wished  to  elect  him  as  Sen- 
ator. 

Stephen  A.  Douglas  was 
the  Democratic  candidate. 
They  made  speeches  against 
each  other ;  but  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  carried  the 
State,  and  Mr.  Douglas  was 
elected. 

Little  did  Abraham  Lin- 
coln know  what  was  in  store  for  him  :  that  the  people  of  the  North  would 
take  him  as  their  great  leader  in  opposing  the  aggressions  of  slavery. 

When  the  convention  of  the  Democratic  party  met  in  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  the  members  from  the  cotton-producing  States  made  humiliating 


ABRAHAM    LINCOI-N. 


472 


BUILDING   THE   NATION. 


[Chap.  XXXV. 


demands  upon  the  Northern  members — that  they  should  advocate  the  re- 
peal of  all  the  laws  in  any  way  prohibiting  or  restraining  slavery. 

The  Northern  members  would  not  consent  to  such  a  demand,  and 
delegates  from  the  cotton  States  seceded  from  the  convention.    Those  who 

remained  adjourned, 
to  reassemble  at  Bal- 
timore, where  they 
nominated  Stephen 
A.Douglas,  of  Illinois, 
for  President.  Those 
who  had  seceded  nom- 
inated John  C.  Breck- 
inridge, of  Kentucky. 
Thus  the  great  party 
which  had  controlled 
the  destinies  of  the 
country  for  many 
years  was  divided. 

The  Southern  poli- 
ticians threatened  to 
bring  about  secession 
if  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
elected.  Douglas  re- 
ceived twelve  electoral 
votes,  Bell  thirty-nine, 
Breckinridge  seventy- 
two,  Lincoln  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty:  fifty- 
seven  more  than  a  majority.     He  was  constitutionally  elected. 

The  South  Carolina  leaders  carried  out  their  threats.  On  December 
20,  1860,  a  convention  assembled  in  Charleston,  and  declared  the  State 
to  be  no  longer  in  the  Union,  alleging  that  the  Northern  States  had  vio- 
lated the  Constitution  by  passing  bills  nullifying  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act, 
and  in  the  election  of  a  President  opposed  to  slavery.  Georgia  seceded 
in  January,  and  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas  in  February. 
On  the  9th  of  February  delegates  from  three  cotton-growing  States  met 
at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  and  formed  a  new  government,  "  The  Confed- 
erate States  of  America,"  electing  Jefferson  Davis  President. 

"  The  great  Republic  is  gone,"  wrote  the  correspondent  of  the  London 
Times.      The  aristocracy  of  England   rejoiced.      Jefferson   Davis,  when 


JEFFEKSON    DAVIS. 


I860.] 


THE   ELECTION   OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 


473 


leaving  his  home  to  become  President  of  the  Confederacy,  made  a  speech 
to  his  fellow-citizens. 

"  England,"  he  said,  "  will  not  allow  our  great  staple  to  be  dammed  np 
within  our  present  limits;  the  starving  thousands  in  their  midst  would 
not  allow  it.  If  war  must  come,  it  must  be  on  Northern  and  not  on 
Southern  soil.  The  Border  States  will  come  into  the  Southern  States 
within  sixty  days,  as  we  shall  be  their  only  friends.  England  will  rec- 
ognize us,  and  a  glorious  future  is  before  us.  The  grass  will  grow  in 
the  Northern  cities,  where  the  pavements  have  been  worn  off  by  the  tread 
of  commerce.  We  will  carry  war  where  it  is  easy  to  advance,  where  food 
for  the  sword  and  torch  awaits  our  armies  in  the  densely  populated  cities." 

In  Charleston  Harbor  stood  Fort  Sumter,  commanded  by  Major  An- 
derson, with  a  garrison  of  fifty-seven  men.     Jefferson  Davis  issued  an  or- 


FOKT    SUMTER. 


der  to  General  Beauregard  to  open  fire  upon  it  from  batteries  which  had 
been  erected.  Major  Anderson's  supplies  were  gone,  he  had  nothing 
left  except  a  little  pork.  The  vessels  which  had  been  sent  by  President 
Lincoln  with  provisions  could  not  reach  the  fort,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
surrender. 

The  Confederate  States  not  only  had  seceded  from  the  Union,  but 
had  begun  civil  war. 

The  Southern  people  little  comprehended  what  they  were  doing.  They 
were  blind  to  reason.  They  did  not  stop  to  think  of  what  might  possibly 
happen  to  the  institution  of  slavery  through  civil  war.    They  little  under- 


474  BUILDING  THE   NATION.  [Chap.  XXXV. 

stood  the  people  of  the  North.  They  did  not  think  that  Northern  men 
would  fight.  Editors  of  newspapers  informed  them  that  one  Southerner 
was  equal  to  half  a  dozen  Yankees.  They  applied  opprobrious  epithets 
to  Abraham  Lincoln  because  he  had  prominent  features,  likening  him  to  a 
baboon.  Because  he  had  split  rails  for  a  living  they  contemptuously 
called  him  the  "  rail-splitter." 

The  far-seeing,  thoughtful  men  of  the  South  knew  very  little  of  the 
power  of  the  Northern  people.  The  Northern  people  themselves  did  not 
know  how  strong  they  were.  The  world  had  small  comprehension  of  the 
forces  which  had  been  silently  building  the  nation  for  three-fourths  of  a 
century;  the  self-reliance  that  comes  from  education;  the  power  of  diver- 
sified industry — the  power  of  invention,  science,  art ;  the  newspapers  read 
in  every  farm-house,  every  home,  by  the  blacksmith  at  his  forge,  the  joiner 
at  his  bench;  the  power  of  free  thought,  the  pulpit,  the  lyeenm,  the  town- 
meeting.  The  slave-holders  regarded  with  contempt  the  men  from  Ire- 
land, Germany,  Norway,  and  Sweden  who  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  rear 
themselves  homes  on  the  prairies  of  the  West.  They  did  not  think  that 
such  "foreign  mercenaries,"  as  they  were  called,  would  fight.  They  knew 
nothing  of  their  love  for  liberty. 

The  slave-holders  did  not  comprehend  that  the  war  which  they  were 
waging  was  against  the  moral  sense  of  the  world;  that  the  farmer  driving 
his  team  afield,  the  mechanic,  the  laborer  everywhere,  by  a  heaven-born 
intuition,  would  regard  it  as  a  war  for  the  degradation  of  labor.  Jefferson 
Davis  little  thought  that  the  men  and  women  of  England,  when  there  was 
no  cotton  for  them  to  spin  and  weave,  when  starvation  would  be  staring 
them  in  the  face,  when  their  children  would  be  crying  for  bread,  instead 
of  influencing  England  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  the  slave-holding  States, 
would  be  holding  prayer-meetings  for  the  success  of  the  Northern  people 
— their  hearts  telling  them  that  it  was  their  battle  which  the  North  was 
fighting.  The  aristocracy,  the  dukes,  lords,  and  nobles  of  England,  and 
kings  and  emperors — the  whole  world,  it  may  be  said — knew  nothing  of 
the  strength  of  a  government  of  the  people  to  suppress  secession,  extermi- 
nate slavery,  and  establish  justice,  right,  and  liberty. 

As  little  did  the  people  of  the  Northern  States  understand  the  South. 
William  II.  Seward  thought  the  South  would  yield ;  that  there  would  be 
little  fighting.  Most  men  thought  that  the  trouble  would  soon  be  over; 
not  comprehending  the  eternal  antagonism  between  freedom  and  slavery. 

The  Northern  people  did  not  know  that  the  doctrine  of  "  State  Rights," 
in  the  resolution  written  by  Jefferson  in  179S,  advocated  by  John  C.  Cal- 
houn, had  become  a  great  principle  in  the  Southern  States — that  men  had 


I860.]  THE   ELECTION   OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  475 

come  to  believe  that  the  State  was  far  more  than  the  nation  ;  that  there 
had  been  a  dying  out  of  love  for  the  Union  ;  that  in  taking  up  arms  the 
Southern  people  would  sincerely  and  truly  believe  they  were  lighting  for 
liberty.  The  Northern  people  thought  that  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to 
re-assert  the  authority  of  the  government  and  put  down  secession.  One 
by  one  other  Southern  States — -North  Carolina,  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and 
Arkansas — joined  the  Confederacy.  Few  were  those  who  foresaw  what 
would  follow  the  first  shot  tired  upon  Fort  Sumter — what  an  uprising  of 
the  people  of  the  North ;  what  a  marshalling  of  the  armies  of  the  Con- 
federacy ;  what  battles  were  to  be  fought  and  victories  won.  But  the 
story  of  the  war — how  secession  was  put  down  ;  the  Confederacy  crushed ; 
the  Union  preserved  ;  slavery  destroyed  ;  liberty,  justice,  right,  and  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  people  re-established ;  the  nation  ennobled,  purified,  glori- 
fied ;  the  Stars  and  Stripes  made  evermore  the  emblem  of  the  world's 
best  hope — all  of  this  must  be  reserved  for  another  volume. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Adams,  John,  President,  112;  issues  proclama- 
tion, 115. 

■ ,  John  Quincy,  240. 

,  Nehemiah,  395. 

Admission  of  California,  394. 

Agassiz,  Louis,  458. 

Aid  Committee  of  Kansas,  411. 

Ains  worth's  Psalms,  266- 

Alamo,  battle  of,  296. 

Alcott,  Bronson,_288. 

Alien  law,  11*7. 

Ambrister,  hung  by  General  Jackson,  242. 

American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  266. 

■ System,  240. 

Ampudia,  General,  322. 
Anecdote  of  Democrat  and  priest,  60. 
Angels  of  Buena  Vista,  330. 
Antislavery  discussion,  beginning  of,  306. 

Society,  formation  of,  288. 

agitation,  286. 

Arista,  General,  321. 

Arkwright,  Richard:  spinning-frame,  71. 

Armistead,  George,  219. 

Armstrong,  General,  174,  212. 

Asbury,  Francis,  256. 

Assault  on  Charles  Sumner,  414. 

Assembly,  Presbyterian,  285. 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  367. 

Astoria,  settlement  of,  367. 

Atchison,  David  R.,  410. 

Attacks,  Crispus,  401. 

Auction,  slave,  387. 

Augers,  invention  of,  139. 

Aunt  Rachel,  421,422. 

Austin,  Stephen  F.,  settles  Texas,  231. 

■ ,  Moses,  291. 


B. 

Bache,  Alexander  Dallas,  459. 

Backus,  Colonel,  177. 

Bainbridge,  William,  121,  123,  169. 

Bank  charter,  235. 

of  the  United  States,  41. 

failures,  235. 

Banquet  in  Boston,  59  ;  in  Philadelphia,  60. 

Baptists,  252. 

Barbary  pirates,  129. 

States,  121. 

Barber,  Thomas  W.,411, 

Barclay,  Captain,  187. 

Barney,  Joshua,  211. 

Barrel,  Mr.,  369. 

Barrows,  Captain,  186. 

Bastile,  42,  50,  58. 

Bastrop,  Baron,  293. 

Bates,  Rebecca,  185. 

,  Abigail,  185. 

Battles,  Naval:  Constellation  and  Le  Croyable, 
115;  Constellation  and  L'lnsurr/ente,  116;  Con- 
stellation and  La,  Vengeance,  116;  Enterprise 
and  pirate,  124  ;  Chesapeake  and  Leopard,  143  ; 
Shannon  and  Nautilus,  159;  Constitution  and 
Guerriere,  164;  Wasp  and  Frolic,  167;  United 
States  and  Macedonian,  168  ;  Constitution  and 
Java,  170;  Hornet  and  Peacock,  172;  Chesa- 
peake and  Shannon,  179;  Pelican  and  Arc/us, 
186;  Enterprise  and  Boxer,  186;  Lake  Erie, 
187;  Lake  Champlain,  203;  General  Arm- 
strong and  British  fleet,  223. 

Battles.  Land:  General  Harmar's  defeat,  30;  St. 
Clair  and  Indians,  32  ;  Anthony  Wayne  and 
Indians,  33;  Tippecanoe,  146;  Maguaga,  152; 
Surrender  of  Detroit,  153;  Frenchtown,  157, 
173  ;  Fort  George,  157;  York,  174  ;  Fort  Meigs, 


478 

175;  Sackett's  Harbor,  177;  Fort  Stephenson, 
180;  Stonington,  182;  Thames,  194;  Fort 
Erie,  196;  Niagara  Falls,  197;  Lundy's  Lane, 
199;  Plattsburg,  206;  Fort  Nims,  208;  Tal- 
ladega, 209;  Horseshoe,  210;  Bladensburg, 
215;  Moorsfield,  217;  North  Point,  218  ;  Fort 
M'Henry,  219;  New  Orleans,  226;  San  Anto- 
nio, 294  ;  Alamo,  297 ;  San  Jacinto,  299  ;  Sem- 
inole Indians,  301 ;  Palo  Alto,  821 ;  Reseca  de 
la  Palma,  321 ;  Monterey,  324 ;  Buena  Vista, 
325;  Vera  Cruz,  334;  Cerro  Gordo,  335; 
Contreras,  341;  Cherubusco,  344;  Molino  del 
Rey,  347;  Cbapultepec,  348;  Black  Jack, 
412. 

Bay-state  Psalm-book,  266. 

Beadsley,  Samuel,  309. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  397. 

Bell,  John,  469. 

Bent's  Fort,  383. 

Bible  Society  formed,  265. 

wanted  by  Indians,  371. 

Bigelow,  Francis  E.,  400. 

Billings,  Mr.,  269. 

Birney,  James  G.,  307. 

Black  Hawk,  471. 

Black  Jack,  battle  of,  412. 

Bladensburg,  battle  of,  212. 

Blaew,  William,  printing-press,  436. 

Blanchet,  M.,  378. 

Blennerhasset,  Mr.,  139. 

Blythe,  Captain,  186. 

Booth,  Sherman  M.,  402. 

Border  Ruffians,  411, 415. 

Bowles,  Colonel,  327. 

Brant,  John,  157. 

Breckinridge,  John  C,  469. 

Breton  Club,  51. 

Broadcloth  manufacture,  236. 

Brock,  General,  152. 

Brooks,  Preston  S. :  attack  on  Charles  Sumner, 
414. 

Brown,  A.  G.,  394. 

,  General,  177. 

■ •,  John,  410,  460. 

Brunswick,  Duke  of,  53. 

Buchanan,  James,  414. 

Buffman,  Arnold,  and  Antislavery  Society,  288. 

Buford,  Major,  414. 

Burgess,  Ebenezer,  and  the  Colonization  Society, 
283. 

Burns,  Anthony,  sent  back  to  slavery,  401. 

Burr,  Aaron,  119,  138. 


INDEX. 

Buena  Vista,  battle  of,  325. 

Bulfinch,  Doctor:  Oregon  trade,  364. 

Bunker  Hill  monument,  246. 

Butler,  Pardee,  and  Border  Ruffians,  411. 

C. 
Calhoun,  John  C,  148,  248. 468. 
California  emigration,  356,  362. 
Canada,  invasion  of,  158. 
Canals,  239,  242. 
Caramelli,  Yussuf,  123. 
Carden,  Captain,  168. 
Carding  machines,  236. 

wool,  89. 

Carson,  Kit,  355. 

Cass,  Lewis,  153. 

Castro,  Governor,  355. 

Catch-me-who-can,  428. 

Catlin,  Mr.,  371. 

Celebration  of  the  Constitution  in  New  York,  22. 

of  the  French  Revolution,  59. 

Cerro  Gordo,  b.attle  of,  335. 

Chaises,  238. 

Champlin,  Stephen:  battle  of  Lake  Erie,  189. 

Channing,  William  Ellery,  280,  311. 

Chapultepec,  battle  of,  348. 

Chauncey,  Commodore,  174. 

Cheever,  George  B.,  and  Deacon  Giles's  distillery, 

275. 
Cherubusco,  battle  of,  345. 
Chillicothe,  settlement  of,  132. 
Christmas  in  Virginia,  107. 
Church  property  in  France,  50. 
Cincinnati,  settlement  of,  28. 
Civil  war  in  Kansas,  412. 
Clark,  Captain,  366. 
Clarke,  William,  120. 
Classes  in  Mexico,  317. 
Clay,  General,  175. 

,  Henry,  147,  243,  400. 

Clay-eaters  in  the  South,  285. 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  132,  239. 

Clymer,  George,  437. 

Cobb,  Howell,  469. 

Cockburn,  Admiral,  211. 

Coffee,  General,  209. 

Coffin,  Levi,  and  Underground  Railroad,  418, 422. 

Coin,  235. 

Cokes,  John,  at  San  Jacinto,  298. 

Colonization  Society,  formation  of,  282. 

Colored  schools,  289. 

Columbia  River,  discoverv  of.  365. 


INDEX. 


470 


Commercial  distress,  303. 
Compromise  of  1850,  387. 

,  Missouri,  243. 

Confederate  States,  473. 
Congregationalists,  252. 
Conner,  Admiral,  332. 
Constitutional  Convention,  18. 
Contreras,  battle  of,  342. 
Convention  at  Hartford,  223. 

,  Republican  and  Democratic,  469. 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  455. 

• ,  Peter,  430. 

Cotton  culture,  rise  of,  284. 

,  demand  for,  75. 

factories,  236. 

Country  roads,  427. 

Cowdery,  Oliver,  and  Mormon  Bible,  442. 

Cradle  of  Liberty,  313. 

Crandall,  Prudence,  and  colored  schools,  289. 

Crackers  of  the  South,  285. 

Crockett,  David,  295. 

Croghan,  Major,  180. 

Currency,  decimal,  235. 

Curtis,  George  T.,  399. 

Customs,  change  of,  78. 

D. 

Dade,  Major,  massacre  of,  301. 

Dale,  Commodore,  123. 

Dana,  Richard  H.,  452. 

Dane,  Nathan,  and  ordinance  of  1787,  21. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  327,  468,  472. 

Davy,  Sir  Humphry,  433. 

De  Bow,  Mr.,  390. 

Deacon  Giles's  distillery,  275. 

Deaconing  hymns,  269. 

Dearborn,  General,  177,  220. 

Debt  of  the  nation,  34. 

Decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  416. 

Declaration  of  war  against  Great  Britain.  148. 

Demerse,  Mr.,  378. 

Democratic  Convention,  469,  471. 

Denison,  Frederic,  184. 

Desmoulins,  Camille,  48. 

Detroit,  surrender  of,  152. 

Devonshire,  Duke  of,  429. 

Dewey,  Orville,  395. 

Directory  of  France,  112. 

Dix,  Major,  327. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  407,  469. 

Downie,  Captain,  203. 

Drinking  habits,  271. 


Drummond,  General,  195,  200. 
Dutch  baby  song,  94. 

courting,  96. 

farmers,  97. 

funerals,  96. 

houses,  94. 

Reformed  Churches,  252. 

women,  95. 

Duel  between  Burr  and  Hamilton,  135\ 

Duelling,  132. 

Dumouriez,  General,  54. 

Duty,  sense  of,  in  New  England,  78. 

D wight,  Timothy,  451. 

E. 

Eaton,  General,  128. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  influence  of,  4  51. 

Eldridge,  Mr.,  412. 

Election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  472. 

in  Kansas,  414. 

Electro-magnet,  433. 

Elks-wa-ta-wa,  195. 

Elliott,  Colonel,  180. 

Ellsworth,  Oliver,  Chief  Justice,  41. 

Embury,  Philip,  254. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  456. 

Emigrant  Aid  Societies,  408. 

Emigration  Companies,  294. 

Episcopalians,  258. 

Equality  of  men,  396. 

Ericsson,  John,  429. 

Evans,  Oliver,  inventor,  42,  428. 

Execution  of  John  Brown,  466. 

F. 
Fairfield,  John,  and  Underground  Railroad,  422. 
Faneuil  Hall,  311. 
Fanning,  Colonel,  297. 
Farmer,  Moses  G.,  435. 
Federal  party,  35. 
Female  Antislavery  Society,  308. 
Flagg,  Josiah,  269. 
Fight  at  Fayal,  223. 
Fillmore,  Millard,  393,  400. 
Financial  distress,  235. 
Finley,  R.  B.,  282. 
Fire-alarm  telegraph,  435. 
Fire-engines,  435. 
First  telegraph  message,  434. 
Fitch,  John,  74,  139. 
Florida  everglades,  301. 
,  purchase  of,  243. 


4S0 


INDEX. 


Forts:  Brown,  318;  M'Henry,  battle  of,  219 ;  Xims, 
208  ;  Sumter,  473  ;  Vancouver,  377  ;  Hall,  381 ; 
Laramie,  374;  Niagara,  battle  of,  177;  Dear- 
born, 151;  Stephenson,  battle  of,  179;  Erie, 
capture  of.  196  ;  Meigs,  siege  of,  174  ;  Uintah, 
381;  Bent.  382. 

Foster,  Daniel,  401. 

Fourth  of  July,  91. 

Fox,  Mr.,  sings  "  Hail,  Columbia  !"  114. 

France,  government  of,  47. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  13,45. 

Free-state  emigrants,  408. 

Fremont,  John  Charles,  348. 

French  influence  in  the  United  States,  58. 

Frenchtown  massacre,  154,  172. 

Freneau,  Philip,  184,451. 

Fugitives  from  slavery,  394,  399,418. 

Fulton,  Robert,  140. 

Funeral  of  John  Brown,  467. 

G. 

Gaines,  General,  200. 

Galvani,  Madame,  433. 

Galvanic  electricity,  discovery  of,  433. 

Games  in  Xew  England,  84. 

Garner,  Margaret,  402. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  286. 

Geary,  John  W.,413. 

Geddis,  James,  239. 

Genet,  Edmund  Charles,  59. 

Genius  of  universal  emancipation,  286. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  112. 

Gibbs,  General,  227. 

Glover.  Joshua,  402. 

Gold  discovery,  359  ;  production,  362. 

Golden  Circle,  Knights  of  the,  469. 

Goliad  massacre.  297. 

Guillotine  invented,  52. 

H. 

Habeas  Corpus,  402. 

"Hail,  Columbia!"  115. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  22,  34, 41,  136. 

,  Charles,  415. 

Hamlin,  Hannibal,  391. 
Hammond,  Eliza  Ann.  289. 
Hardin,  Colonel,  326. 
Hardy,  Admiral,  182. 
Hargreaves,  James,  70. 
Harmar,  General,  30. 
Harper's  Ferry,  attack  on,  462. 
Harris,  Martin,  442. 


Harris,  Sarah,  289. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  145, 174,  304. 

Hart,  Eliza,  372. 

Hartley,  David,  13. 

Harvest  in  New  England,  86. 

Hawks,  John,  470. 

Hayden,  Lewis,  399. 

Hayne,  Senator,  248. 

Heald,  Captain,  151. 

Heck,  Barbara,  254. 

Henry,  Joseph,  433,  459. 

-,  Patrick,  21. 

Herald  of  Freedom,  305. 
Higginson,  T.  W.,401. 
Hill,  Hannah,  260. 
Hoe,  Richard  M.,437. 
Holliman,  Ezekiel,  252. 
Hollis  Street  Church,  280. 
Holmes,  Jeremiah,  183. 
Hopkins,  Bishop,  395. 

,  Samuel,  282. 

Hopkinson,  Joseph,  114. 

Horseshoe,  battle  of  the,  210. 

Horseback  riding,  238. 

Hospitality  in  Virginia,  104. 

Hotel  des  luvalides,  49. 

Houston,  Samuel,  209,  294,  298. 

Howe.  Judge,  452. 

Hudson's  Bay  Company,  355,  366,  377. 

Hull,  Isaac,  159. 

,  William,  149. 

Human  rights,  283. 
Humphrys,  Joseph,  113. 
Husking-parties,  86. 

I. 

Idlers.  273. 

Immediate  emancipation,  287. 

Industry,  mechanical,  236. 

of  the  people,  69,  95. 

Indian  wars,  30,  31,  33,  176,  208,  301. 
Influence  of  France  on  the  United  States,  58. 

of  the  "  Marseillaise,"  55. 

Iniquity  of  liquor  traffic,  275. 

Injustice  of  France,  113. 

Innocent  III.,  51. 

Intelligence  in  Xew  England,  67. 

Invasion  of  Kansas,  413  ;  of  Mexico,  314 ;  of  Vis 

ginia,  462. 
Invention,  effect  of,  431. 
Irwin,  Mr.,  72. 
Irving,  Washington,  453. 
,  William,  453. 


INDEX. 


481 


Jackson,  Andrew,  204,  225,  242,  247. 

Jacobins,  51. 

Jalapa,  capture  of,  337. 

Jay,  John,  13,  41. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  34, 117, 119. 

Jesup,  General,  196,  223.  301. 

Johnson,  Colonel,  194. 

,  Lieutenant,  224. 

Jones,  Jacob,  187. 
Judson,  Andrew  I.,  289. 
Jullien  soup,  287. 

K. 
Kansas,  organization  of,  407 ;  invasion  of, 

a  free  State,  416. 
Kean,  General,  227. 
Kearney,  Stephen  W.,  399. 
Kelly,  John,  259. 
Kentucky  resolutions,  118;   slave-hunters, 

wedding,  108. 
Key,  Francis  S.,  219,  282.- 
Kidnappers,  404. 
King  Cotton,  468. 
King,  Preston,  391. 
Kirtland  riot,  443. 
Knickerbocker,  Dietrich,  455. 
Knickerbockers,  93. 


Lafayette,  visit  to  the  United  States,  245. 

Lake  Erie,  battle  of,  188. 

Lambert,  Captain,  168. 

Lane,  General,  327. 

Lardner,  Doctor,  426. 

Lasalle,  Jacques,  171. 

Latta,  Mr.,  435. 

Latter-day  Saints,  443. 

Lawrence,  Amos  A.,  408. 

,  James,  172. 

Lawrence,  burning  of,  412. 

Laws  against  selling  liquor,  280. 

La  Vega,  General,  321. 

Lawyers,  273. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  334. 

Lettres  de  cachet,  43. 

Lewis,  Meriwether,  366. 

Liberator,  establishment  of  the,  288. 

Liberty,  spirit  of,  249. 

Life  of  slaves,  387. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  408,  416,  469. 

Little  Falls  Canal,  239. 


410; 


402  : 


Livingston,  Robert  B.,  120, 140. 

Lloyd,  Admiral,  223. 

Locomotives,  invention  of,  429. 

Log-rolling,  111. 

Longfellow,  Eenry  Wadsworth,  456. 

Lord,  Nathan,  395. 

Los  Angeles,  capture  of,  357. 

Louis  XIV.,  42,  97. 

Louis  XV.,  42. 

Louisiana,  purchase  of,  120. 

Lovejoy,  A.  L.,  381. 

,  E.  P.,  murdered,  31<>. 

Lowell,  Francis  C,  431. 

,  James  Russell,  458. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  378. 

Luce,  Major,  settlement  of  Cincinnati,  28. 

Luudy,  Benjamin,  285. 

Lundy's  Lane,  battle  of,  200. 

M. 
Machinery,  manufacture  of,  246. 
Macdonough,  Commodore,  203. 
Mackinaw,  capture  of,  151. 
Macomb,  General,  203. 
Madison,  James,  118, 144,  220. 

■ ,  Mrs.,  215. 

Magnetic  iron  discovery,  432. 

Maintenon,  Madame,  253. 

Mandan  Indians,  366. 

Manners  and  customs  in  Southern  States,  103. 

Manufacturing,  beginning  of,  247,  431. 

Maple-sugar,  85. 

Marais  des  Cygnes,  414. 

"  Marseillaise,"  first  singing  of  the,  55. 

Marshall,  John,  112. 

Mason,  John  M.,  394, 468. 

Massacre  at  Black  Rock,  195. 

at  Goliad,  297. 

in  Oregon,  385. 

Massie,  Nathaniel,  131. 
May,  Samuel  Jay,  288. 
M'Comas,  Henry  C,  218. 
M'Neil,  Colonel,  196. 
Mc Arthur,  Duncan,  131,  153. 
McDougal,  Mr.,  367. 
McKay,  Mr.,  367. 
McKenzie,  Mr.,  366. 
Meeting-houses,  79,  251. 
Merchants  of  Virginia,  102. 
Methodists,  255. 

Mexican  patriotism,  337;    people,  318;    revolu- 
tion, 291. 


31 


4:82 


INDEX. 


Michigan  Territory,  150. 
Military  districts,  220. 

training  in  New  England,  87. 

Miller,  James,  199. 
Mills,  Nancy,  470. 

,  Samuel,  J.,  265. 

Ministers  in  Virginia,  251. 

Minon,  General,  325. 

Mint  establishment,  235. 

Missions  of  the  American  Board,  372. 

Missouri,  admission  of,  243  ;  the  settlement  of, 

243. 
Missourians  in  Kansas,  411. 
Mobs.  308,  309,  310. 
Money,  scarcity  of,  236. 
Monroe,  James,  120,  232. 

doctrine,  245. 

Monterey,  battle  of,  321. 

Morales,  General,  332. 

Morey,  Samuel,  139. 

Mormon  Bible,  44a 

Mormonism,  rise  of,  442. 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  239. 

Morse,  S.  F.  B.,  and  the  telegraph,  433. 

Mott,  Lucretia,  306. 

Mountain  Meadow  massacre,  441. 

"  Mud-sills."  390. 

Murray,  General,  195. 

Music,  266,  269. 

N. 

Nantes,  people  of,  46. 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  112. 
National  road  in  Mexico,  33S. 
Nauvoo  Legion,  444. 
Navy  of  the  United  States,  113. 
Negro-catching,  400. 

huts,  418. 

New  England  ideas  of  law  and  order,  67. 

Albion,  363. 

Hampshire  schools,  63. 

Jersey,  first  settlers  of,  97. 

Mexico,  349. 

Orleans,  battle  of,  226. 

Newark,  burning  of,  195. 
Nez  Perces  Indians,  371. 
Niagara  Falls,  battle  of,  197. 
North  Point,  battle  of,  219. 
North-west  Territory,  131. 

Trading  Company,  366. 

North-western  Fur  Company,  151. 
Nullification,  248. 


O. 

O'Brien,  Lieutenant,  329. 

Ogdensburg,  plunder  of,  174. 

Ohio,  first  settlement  of,  27. 

in  1812,  151. 

"Old  Ironsides,1'  170. 

■ Things,  431. 

Opinion  in  the  United  States,  59 ;  in  the  North- 
ern States,  474  ;  in  slave-holding  States,  474. 

Oregon,  settlement  of,  367;  saving  of,  382;  his- 
tory of,  385  ;  expedition,  374. 

Osceola,  301. 


Pacheeo,  General,  327. 
Paine.  Thomas,  45. 
Pakenham,  Sir  Edward,  223. 
Palo  Alto,  battle  of,  321. 
Parker,  Mary,  308. 

,  Sir  Peter,  215. 

,  Theodore,  396. 

Parliament,  thanks  to  General  Ross  by,  220. 
Parties  in  France,  51. 

in  the  United  States,  35. 

Pate,  Captain,  412. 
Patent  law,  425. 
Patterson.  General,  332. 

Peace  with  Great  Britain,  13,  228  ;  with  the  In- 
dians, 34  ;  with  Mexico,  350. 
Pennsylvania  Hall  destroyed,  309. 

,  people  of,  98,  100. 

Pensacola,  taking  of,  243. 
Pensions,  232. 
Perry,  Oliver  H.,  187. 
Personal  liberty  bills,  424. 
Phillips,  Wendell,  311. 

,  William,  410. 

Phyla,  composer  of  "Hail,  Columbia  !"  114. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  337,  401. 

Pierpont,  John,  280. 

Pike,  Zebulon,  174. 

Pillow,  General,  372. 

Pinckuey,  Charles  C,  112. 

Pioneer  settlers,  107. 

Pius  VII.,  129. 

Planters  in  Virginia,  101. 

Planters'  power,  388. 

Political  power  in  the  Southern  States,  390. 

Polk,  James  K.,  314,  350. 

Pompadour,  Madame,  43. 

Poor  white  people,  101. 

Population,  34. 


INDEX. 


483 


Porter,  General,  196. 

Poverty  of  the  people,  1 6. 

Pratt,  Parley  P.,  446. 

Prayer-book,  258. 

Prayer-meeting,  265. 

Preble,  Edward,  124. 

Prentis,  Narcissa,  373. 

Presbyterians,  253. 

Presidential  title,  21. 

Press-gang,  112. 

Prevost,  Sir  George,  151,  172. 

Primer  in  New  England,  64. 

Prince,  Joanna,  260. 

Printing-press  destroyed,  437. 

Printing-presses,  437. 

Proctor,  General,  51,  171, 175,  194. 

Proviso,  Wilmot,  391. 

Puritans,  63. 

Putnam,  Rufus,  27. 

Q 

Quakers  of  Pennsylvania,  100. 
Queen  of  France,  53. 
Quincy,  Edmund,  313. 

,  Josiah,  147. 

Quitman,  General,  332. 

R. 

Raikes,  Robert,  260. 
Railroads,  302,  429. 
Randolph,  John,  147,  243. 
Reid,  Mrs.,  234. 

,  Samuel  Chester,  223. 

Religious  books,  262. 

Repeal  of  Missouri  Compromise,  40'i 

Republican  party,  35,414. 

Republics  of  South  America,  244. 

Resaca  de  la  Palma,  battle  of,  321. 

Resolutions  of  1798,  118. 

Revolution  in  France,  48. 

Rial],  General,  195. 

Rice  cultivation,  76. 

Rigdon,  Sidney,  440. 

Rights  of  the  States,  393. 

Riley,  Patrick,  400. 

Ringgold,  Major,  318,321. 

Riots,  16,  52,  308,  309,  310,  401. 

Ripley,  General,  196. 

Rise  of  antislavery  societies,  398. 

Robertson,  James,  2ns. 

Robinson,  Charles,  411. 

Rodgers,  Commodore,  219. 


Ross,  General,  211,218. 
Rouget  de  Flsle,  55. 
Rousseau,  M.,44. 
Rum  distillation,  275. 
Rumsey,  James,  139. 
Russians  in  California,  353. 


Sackett's  Harbor,  battle  of,  177. 

Sailors'  rights,  148. 

Salt  Lake,  settlement  of,  446. 

San  Francisco,  settlement  of,  353. 

San  Jacinto,  battle  of,  298. 

Santa  Anna,  276,  299,  317,  325. 

Sargent,  Winthrop,  27. 

Scarborough,  Mr.,  426. 

Scholtield,  Arthur,  236. 

Schools,  common,  63. 

,  singing,  269. 

,  Sunday,  260. 

Schuyler,  Philip,  238. 

Science,  state  of,  458. 

Scioto  valley,  settlement  of,  132. 

Scott,  Winfield,  157,  196,  325. 

Seabiuy,  Samuel,  first  bishop,  259. 

Secession  of  Southern  States,  472. 

Secessionists,  424. 

Sedition  law,  117. 

Seizure  of  vessels  by  England  and  France,  147. 

Seminole  Indians,  removal  of,  302. 

Seward,  William  II.,  416,474. 

Sewell,  Samuel  E.,  400. 

Shay's  rebellion,  17. 

Shadrach,  rescue  of,  399. 

Shannon,  Wilson,  411. 

Sheep,  merino,  236. 

Ships  :  Alert,  160;  Argus,  186  ;  Ariel,  189;  Boxer 
180 ; Brandywine,  246 ;  Caledonia,  189;  Carnalic 
115;  Chesapeake,  113,143, 179;  Chippewa,  192 
Chub,  203;  Clermont,  141;  Collingwood,  367 
Columbia,  365 ;  Confiance,  203  ;  Congress,  113 
Constellation,  113,  115;  Constitution,  113,  125 
159,  163 ;  Coronation,  224 ;  Cuyahoga,  151 
Despatch,  182  ;  Detroit,  187  ;  Discovery,  363 
Eagle,  20.3;  Enterprise,  124,  186;  Essex,  160 
Finch,  203;  Frolic,  167;  General  Armstrong 
223;  GeorgeWashing/ou,  121 ,  Golden  Hind,  363 
Guerricrc,  160,  163;  Hornet,  172;  Hunter,  187 
Intrepid,  124;  Java,  168;  Lady  Prevost,  187 
Lawrence,  187;  La  Hogue,  184;  La  Vengeance 
116;  Le  Croyable,  115;  Leopard,  "115,  143 
L  Insurgents,   116;   Linnet.   203;   Lydia,  367 


484 


INDEX. 


Macedonian,  168  ;  Mastico,  124  ;  Mendaus,  215  ; 
Morris,  401 ;  Nautilus,  150;  Niagara,  187;  Pac- 
tolus,  1S2  ;  Peacock,  172  ;  Pear/,  307  ;  Philadel- 
phia, 124,  126;  Poictiers,  167;  Portsmouth, 
357;  President,  113;  <2wem  Charlotte,  187; 
Ramillks,  182;  Resolution,  363;  Saratoga,,  203; 
Savannah,  357;  Scorpion,  189  ;  Shannon,  157, 
178;  Siren,  124;  Terror,  182;  Ticonderoga, 
203;  Tonquin,  367 ;  United  States,  16, 18, 113; 
Ea^coMra1,  367  ;  Washington,  365;  IFasp,  167. 

Simcoe,  General,  33. 

Simms,  Thomas  M.,  400. 

Simpson,  Sir  George,  378. 

Slater,  Samuel,  236. 

Slave  life,  104. 

Slavery  in  the  Constitutional  Convention,  19. 

in  Texas,  294. 

,  discussion  in  Congress  on,  243. 

,  influence  of,  395. 

Smith,  Gerrit,  309,  408. 

,  Mrs.,  440. 

,  Joseph,  founder  of  Mormonism,  440. 

■ ,  Sidney,  455. 

,  William,  399. 

Smuggling,  144. 

Social  life  in  Kentucky,  107;  in  New  England, 
78  ;  in  Pennsylvania,  99  ;  in  the  South,  107. 

Society  in  France,  45. 

Sons  of  the  South,  407. 

South  Carolina  nullification,  248. 

Carolinians  in  Kansas,  414. 

Sovereignty  of  the  nation,  249. 

Spalding,  Henry  Herman,  372. 

Spaulding,  Solomon,  440. 

Speculation,  302. 

Speech  of  Jefferson  Davis,  473. 

Spelling-books,  68. 

Spinning,  69. 

Stage-coaches,  238,  427. 

Stars  and  Stripes,  232,  474. 

Star-spangled  banner,  219. 

States,  admission  of,  232. 

St.  Clair,  General,  31. 

Steamboat,  first,  141. 

Clermont,  427,  429.  . 

Steam-wagon,  425. 

Stearns,  George  L.,  408. 

Stephenson,  George,  429. 

Sterrit,  Lieutenant,  124. 

Stevens,  John,  429. 

Stockton,  Commodore,  349. 

Stone,  Mr.,  273,  279. 


Stonington,  battle  of,  183. 
Storrs,  Richard  S.,  397. 
Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  397. 
Stratagem  in  war,  186, 
Strawbridge,  Thomas,  256. 
Strieker,  General,  218. 
Stuart,  Moses,  395. 
Sunday  in  New  England,  79. 
Sutter,  John  A.,  354. 
Swartout,  John,  132. 
Swift,  John  L.,401. 
Symmes,  John  C,  28. 

T. 
Tappan,  Arthur,  287. 
Tariff  discussion,  240. 
Taylor,  Captain,  345. 

■ •,  John,  117. 

■ ,  Nathaniel,  395. 

,  Zachary,  314,  318,  362,  392. 

Teaching  by  example,  92. 

Tecumtha,  144,  171, 180,  194,  207. 

Telegraph,  invention  of  the,  434. 

Temperance  in  Baltimore,  280 ;  reformation,  271 ; 

societies,  274. 
Temple  of  Nauvoo,  444. 
Terra  Caliente,  333. 
Territorial  acquisition,  351. 
Territory  of  Kansas,  407  ;  North-west,  21. 
Texas,  annexation  of,  314;   settlement  of,  291, 

293. 
Times,  London,  220. 
Tippecanoe,  battle  of,  146  ;  song,  304. 
Thanksgiving  in  New  England,  87. 
Thayer,  Eli,  408. 
Theatre,  influence  of  the,  398. 
Thomson,  General,  301. 
Thornton,  Lieutenant,  317. 
Thornwell,  James  H.,  390. 
Thugs  of  India,  440. 
Toombs,  Senator,  414. 
Torrejon,  General,  321. 
Town-meeting  in  New  England,  91. 
Towson,  Captain,  196. 
Trade  of  Great  Britain,  142. 
Travis,  Colonel,  296. 
Treasury  of  the  United  States,  220. 
Trevethick,  Richard,  424. 
Tripoli,  Governor  of,  123. 
Trumbull,  John,  451. 
Truxtun,  Commodore,  137. 
Tuileries,  attack  on  the,  54. 


INDEX. 


485 


Turkey,  Sultan  of,  121. 
Twiggs,  General,  332. 
Tyler,  John,  304,  382. 

U. 

"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  397. 
Underground  Railroad,  418. 
Union,  love  of  the,  148. 

,  preservation  of  the,  249. 

Union-saving  meetings,  395. 

Unitarians,  259. 

United  States  influence,  244. 

Navy,  159. 

Universalists,  259. 
Utah,  settlement  of,  416. 

V. 

Valencia,  General,  341. 
Van  Arsdale,  John,  13. 
Van  Buren,  Martin,  302. 
Van  Rensselaer,  General,  157. 
Vera  Cruz,  bombardment  of,  334. 
Vessels  searched  by  Great  Britain,  143. 
Vigilance  Committee  in  Kansas,  410, 
Villamil,  General,  327. 
Virginia,  first  settlers  of,  101. 

merchants,  102. 

■ planters,  104. 

Voltaire,  M.,  45. 
Vroumen-dagh,  95. 

W. 
Wages,  302. 
Wagons,  238. 
Walpole,  Horace,  451. 
War  with  Algiers,  121. 

discussion  in  Congress,  147. 

between  England  and  France,  112. 

with  Great  Britain,  148. 

with  Mexico,  314. 

Washington,  burning  of,  215. 

,  Lewis,  462. 

Washingtonian  Temperance  Society,  281. 
Washington's  coach,  35. 
death,  lis. 


Washington's  farewell  to  his  officers,  14. 

inauguration,  26. 

"  Washington's  March,"  25. 

Watt,  James,  70,  426. 

Wayne,  Anthony,  33. 

Weathersford,  Indian  chief,  209. 

Weaving,  89. 

Webb,  Thomas,  255. 

Webster,  Daniel,  246,  262,  382,  394. 

,  Noah,  67. 

Weld,  Theodore,  307. 
Wells,  Daniel,  218. 
Wesley,  John,  254. 
West,  Benjamin,  140. 
Whaling  vessels,  92. 
Whig  party,  303,  469. 
Whipping-post,  102. 
Whiskey  rebellion,  34. 
White,  William,  259. 
Whitman,  Marcus,  372. 
Whitney,  Eli,  75. 
Whittier,  John  G.,  330,  457. 
Wigwam  in  Chicago,  469. 
Wilkinson,  General,  31,  139. 
Williams  College,  209. 
Williams,  Lieutenant,  224. 

,  Roger,  252. 

Wilmot,  David,  391. 
Winchester,  General,  171. 
Winder,  William  II.,  211. 
Wise,  Mr.,  314. 
Wood,  Samuel,  262. 
Wool,  John  E.,  157. 
Worth,  General,  332. 
Wyeth,  Captain,  371'. 


Yancey,  William  M.,468. 
Yankee  restlessness,  91. 
Yankees,  origin  of,  78. 

take  possession  of  Albany,  92. 

Yarnell,  Lieutenant,  189. 
York,  battle  of,  174. 
Young,  Brig-ham,  444. 

,  Samuel,  240. 

Young's  Prairie,  402. 


THE  END. 


INTERESTING  BOOKS  FOR  BOYS. 


THE  BOY  TRAVELLERS  IN  THE  FAR  EAST.  Part  L  Adventures 
of  Two  Youths  in  a  Journey  to  Japan  and  China.  By  Thomas  W.  Knox. 
Copiously  Illustrated.     8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

THE  BOY  TRAVELLERS  IN  THE  FAR  EAST.  Part  II.  Adventures 
of  Two  Youths  in  a  Journey  to  Siam  and  Java.  With  Descriptions  of 
Cochin  -  China,  Cambodia,  Sumatra,  and  the  Malay  Archipelago.  By 
Thomas  W.  Knox.     Copiously  Illustrated.     Svo,  Cloth,  |3  00. 

THE  BOY  TRAVELLERS  IN  THE  FAR  EAST.  Part  III.  Adventures 
of  Two  Youths  in  a  Journey  to  Ceylon  and  India.  With  Descriptions 
of  Borneo,  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  Burinah.  By  Thomas  W.  Knox. 
Copiously  Illustrated.     Svo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

THE  BOY  TRAVELLERS  IN  THE  FAR  EAST.  Part  IV.  Adventures 
of  Two  Youths  in  a  Journey  to  Egypt  and  Palestine.  By  Thomas  W. 
Knox.     Copiously  Illustrated.     Svo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

HUNTING  ADVENTURES  ON  LAND  AND  SEA.  Part  I.  The  Young 
Nimrods  in  North  America.     A  Book  for  Boys.     By  Thomas  W.  Knox. 

Copiously  Illustrated.     Svo,  Cloth,  |2  50. 

HUNTING  ADVENTURES  ON  LAND  AND  SEA.  Part  II.  The  Young 
Nimrods  Around  the  World.    A  Book  for  Boys.     By  Thomas  W.  Knox. 

Copiously  Illustrated.     Svo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  A  MOUNTAIN.  By  Elisee  Reclus.  Illustrated  by 
L.  Bennett.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

WHAT  MR.  DARWIN  SAW  IN  HIS  VOYAGE  ROUND  THE  WORLD 
IN  THE  SHIP  "BEAGLE."     Illustrated.     Svo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

FRIENDS  WORTH  KNOWING.  Glimpses  of  American  Natural  History. 
By  Ernest  Ingeesoll.     Illustrated.     16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

WHO  WAS  PAUL  GRAYSON  ?  By  John  Habbekton,  Author  of  "  Helen's 
Babies."     Illustrated.     16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  FOUR  MACNICOLS.     By  W.  Black.     HIM.     16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.     By  W.  Black.     4to,  Paper,  10  cents. 

TOBY  TYLER ;  OR,  TEN  WEEKS  WITH  A  CIRCUS.  By  James  Otis. 
Illustrated.      10 mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

MR.  STUBBS'S  BROTHER.     A  Sequel  to  "  Toby  Tyler."     By  James  Otis. 

Illustrated.     16 mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  STORY  OF  LIBERTY    By  Charles  Carleton  Coffin.    Illustrated. 

Svo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

OLD  TIMES  IN  THE  COLONIES.  By  Charles  Carleton  Coffin.  Il- 
lustrated.    Svo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

THE  BOYS  OF  "76.  A  History  of  the  Battles  of  the  Revolution.  By 
Charles  Carleton  Coffin.     Illustrated.     Svo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

BUILDING  THE  NATION.  By  Charles  Carleton  Coffin.  Illustrated. 
Svo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 


Interesting  Books  for  Boys. 


CAMP  LIFE  IN  THE  WOODS,  AND  THE  TRICKS  OF  TRAPPING 
AND  TRAP  MAKING.  By  W.  Hamilton  Gibson,  Author  of  "  Pas- 
toral Days."     Illustrated  by  the  Author.     16rao,  Cloth,  81  00. 

THE  TALKING  LEAVES.  An  Indian  Story.  By  W.  O.  Stoddard.  Il- 
lustrated.    16mo,  Cloth,  81  00. 

DIDDIE,  DUMPS,  AND  TOT ;  OR,  PLANTATION  CHILD  -  LIFE.     By 

Louise-Clarke  Pybnelle.     Illustrated.     16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  MORAL  PIRATES.     By  W.  L.  Aldex.     IU'd.     16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  CRUISE  OF  THE  "  GHOST."  By  W.  L.  Aldex.  Illustrated.  16mo, 
Cloth,  $1  00. 

HOW  TO  GET  STRONG,  AND  HOW  TO  STAY  SO.  By  William 
Blaikie.     With  Illustrations.      16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  NAVY,  FOR  BOYS.  By 
Bexsox  J.  Lossixg,  LL.D.     Illustrated.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  75. 

A  CHILD'S  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND.  By  Charles  Dickens.  With 
Illustrations.     Two  Volumes  in  One.     16mo,  Half  Leather,  60  cents. 

FRENCH  HISTORY  FOR  ENGLISH  CHILDREN.  By  Sarah  Brook. 
Revised  and  Edited  by  George  Cary  Egglestox.     With  Illustrations 

and  Maps.     12mo,  Cloth,  81  00. 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  A  YOUNG  NATURALIST.  By  Luciex  Biart. 
With  117  Illustrations.     I2mo,  Cloth,  $1  75. 

AN  INVOLUNTARY  VOYAGE.  By  Luciex  Biart.  Illustrated.  12mo, 
Clot      $1  2.5. 

TPIE  BOYHOOD  OF  MARTIN  LUTHER  ;  or,  The  Sufferings  of  the  Lit- 
tle Beggar -Boy  who  afterward  became  the  Great  German  Reformer. 
By  Henry  Mayiievt.     Illustrated.     16mo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  PEASANT-BOY  PHILOSOPHER.  (Founded  on 
the  Early  Life  of  Ferguson,  the  Shepherd-Boy  Astronomer,  and  intended 
to  show  how  a  Poor  Lad  became  Acquainted  with  the  Principles  of  Nat- 
ural Science.)     By  Henry  Mayhevv.     16mo,  Cloth,  81  25. 

YOUNG  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  A  Story  to  show  how  Young  Benja- 
min Learned  the  Principles  which  raised  him  from  a  Printer's  Boy  to 
the  First  Ambassador  of  the  American  Republic.     By  Henry  Mayiiew. 

Illustrated.     lGmo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

THE  WONDERS  OF  SCIENCE;  or,  Young  Humphry  Davy  (the  Cornish 
Apothecary's  Boy  who  Taught  Himself  Natural  Philosophy,  and  event- 
ually became  President  of  the  Royal  Society.)  The  Life  of  a  Wonderful 
Boy.     By  Henry  Mayhew.     16mo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

SCIENCE  FOR  THE  YOUNG.  By  Jacob  Abbott.  Illustrated.  4  vols. : 
Heat. — Light. —  Water  and  Land. — Force.     12mo,  Cloth,  81  50  each. 


Interesting  Books  for  Boys. 


ROUND  THE  WORLD;  including  a  Residence  in  Victoria,  and  a  Journey 
by  Rail  across  North  America.  By  a  Boy.  Edited  by  Samuel  Smiles. 
Illustrated.     12mo,  Cloth,  $]  50. 

THE  SELE-HELP  SERIES.     By  Samuel  Smiles. 

Self-Help.     12 mo,  Cloth,  Si  00.— Character.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. — 
Thrift.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00.— Duty.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  BOYHOOD  OF  GREAT  MEN.  By  John  G.  Edgar.  Illustrated. 
16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  FAMOUS  MEN.  By  John  G.  Edgar.  Illus- 
trated.    16mo,  Cloth,  |1  00. 

HISTORY  FOR  BOYS;  or,  Annals  of  the  Nations  of  Modern. Europe.  By 
John  G.  Edgar.     Illustrated.     16 mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

SEA-KINGS  AND  NAVAL  HEROES.  A  Book  for  Boys.  By  John  G. 
Edgar.     Illustrated.     16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  WARS  OF  THE  ROSES.     By  John  G.Edgar.     Illustrated.     16mo, 

Cloth,  $1  00. 

POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS.  By  Charles  Nordhoff.  12mo, 
Half  Leather,  75  cents. 

STORIES  OF  THE  ISLAND  WORLD.  By  Charles  Nordhoff.  Illus- 
trated.    12mo,  Cloth,  |1  00. 

THE  THOUSAND  AND  ONE  NIGHTS;  or,  The  Arabian  Nights' Enter- 
tainments. Translated  and  Arranged  for  Family  Reading,  with  Explan- 
atory Notes,  by  E.  W.  Lane.  600  Illustrations  by  Harvey.  2  vols., 
12mo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

STORIES   OF   THE   GORILLA   COUNTRY.     By  Paul  B.  Du  Chaillu. 

Illustrated.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

THE  COUNTRY  OF  THE  DWARFS.  By  Paul  B.  Du  Chatllu.  Illus- 
trated.    12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

WILD  LIFE  UNDER  THE  EQUATOR.  By  Paul  B.  Du  Chaillu.  Il- 
lustrated.    12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

MY  APINGI  KINGDOM:  with  Life  in  the  Great  Sahara,  and  Sketches  of 
the  Chase  of  the  Ostrich,  Hyena,  &c.  By  Paul  B.  Du  Chaillu.  Illus- 
trated.     12mo,  Cloth,  |1  50. 

LOST  IN  THE  JUNGLE.     By  Paul  B.  Du  Chaillu.     Illustrated.     12mo, 

Cloth,  Si  50. 

OUR  CHILDREN'S  SONGS.     Illustrated.     Svo,  Ornamental  Cover,  $1  00. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  SANDFORD  AND  MERTON.  By  Thomas  Day. 
ISmo,  Half  Bound,  75  cents. 

YOUTH'S  HEALTH-BOOK.     32mo, Paper,  25  cents;  Cloth,  40  cents. 

STORIES  OF  THE  OLD  DOMINION.  From  the  Settlement  to  Jjie  End 
of  the  Revolution.  By  John  Esten  Cooke.  Illustrated.  12mo,  Cloth, 
81  50. 


Interesting  Hooks  for  Boys. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  MOUTHFUL  OF  BREAD,  and  its  Effect  on  the 
Organization  of  Men  and  Animals.  By  Jean  Mace.  Translated  from 
the  Eighth  French  Edition  by  Mrs.  Alfred  Gatty.     12mo,  Cloth,  f  1  75. 

THE  SERVANTS  OF  THE  STOMACH.  By  Jean  Mace.  Reprinted 
from  the  London  Edition,  Revised  and  Corrected.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  75. 

FRED  MARKHAM  IN  RUSSIA;  or,  The  Boy  Travellers  in  the  Land  of 
the  Czar.    By  W.  H.  G.  Kingston.    Illustrated.     Small  4to,  Cloth,  75  cts. 

SELF-MADE  MEN,    By  Charles  C.  B.  Seymour.     Many  Portraits.     12mo, 

Cloth,  $1  75. 

THE  LIFE  AND  SURPRISING  ADVENTURES  OF  ROBINSON  CRU- 
SOE, of  York,  Mariner  ;  with  a  Biographical  Account  of  Defoe.  Illus- 
trated by  Adams.     Complete  Edition.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  SWISS  FAMILY  ROBINSON  ;  or,  Adventures  of  a  Father  and  Moth- 
er and  Four  Sons  on  a  Desert  Island.     Illustrated.     2  vols.,  18mo,  Cloth, 

$1  50. 

THE  SWISS  FAMILY  ROBINSON—  Continued  :  being  a  Sequel  to  the 
Foregoing.     2  vols.,  18mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

DOGS  AND  THEIR  DOINGS.  By  Rev.  F.  O.  Morris,  B.A.  Illustrated. 
Square  8vo,  Cloth,  Gilt  Sides,  $1  75. 

TALES  FROM  THE  ODYSSEY  FOR  BOYS  AND  GIRLS.     By  C.  M.  B. 

32mo,  Paper,  25  cents  ;  Cloth,  40  cents. 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  REUBEN  DAVIDGER ;  Seventeen  Years  and 
Four  Months  Captive  among  the  Dyaks  of  Borneo.  By  J.  Greenwood. 
Svo,  Cloth,  Illustrated,  $1  25;  4to,  Paper,  15  cents. 

WILD  SPORTS  OF  THE  WORLD.  A  Book  of  Natural  History  and 
Adventure.     By  J.  Greenwood.     Illustrated.     Crown,  Svo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

CAST  UP  BY  THE  SEA;  or,  The  Adventures  of  Ned  Grey.  By  Sir  Sam- 
uel W.  Baker,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  F.R.G.S.     12mo,  Cloth,  Illustrated,  $1  25  ; 

4to,  Paper,  15  cents. 

HOMES  WITHOUT  HANDS:  Being  a  Description  of  the  Habitations  of 
Animals,  classed  according  to  their  Principle  of  Construction.  By  the 
Rev.  J.  G.  Wood,  M.A.,  F.L.S.  With  about  140  Illustrations  engraved 
on  Wood  by  G.  Pearson,  from  Original  Designs  made  by  F.  W.  Keyl  and 
E.  A.  Smith,  under  the  Author's  Superintendence.  Svo,  Cloth,  $4  50; 
Sheep,  $5  00  ;  Roan,  $5  00  ;  Half  Calf,  $6  75. 

THE  ILLUSTRATED  NATURAL  HISTORY.  By  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Wood, 
M. A.,  F.L.S.     With  450  Engravings.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  05. 


Published  by  HARPER  ifc  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

tw  Any  of  the  above  works  sent  by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the  United  States,  on  receipt  of 

the  price. 


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